The Zambia National Farmers Union-ZNFU has advised farmers who are growing excess tomatoes to refrain from oversupplying the market and instead invest in value addition.
ZNFU Media and Public Relations Manager Calvin Kaleyi said the large-scale farmers who are dumping their excess produce on the market are selling it at a cheaper price, which is disadvantaging emerging and small-scale farmers.
Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Kaleyi said the big players are able to sell their tomatoes at a lower price because they have economies of scale but this will push small-scale farmers out of the market.
“Because they have economies of scale they can offload but other farmers producing 6 or 10 boxes will be pushed out of the market. What is happening now is a few farmers are dropping about 7 trucks a day, they are offloading on the market and they are not selling at a cost reflective price, they are selling at below production post”, he said.
He mentioned that if an individual is landing their products at below cost of production, they are contravening the law of competition.
Kaleyi noted that only big players would remain on the market if the situation remains the same but the country needs emergent, small-scale farmers and big farmers co-existing, therefore the need to have a trading environment that is conducive for everyone.
“The small scale farmer may look insignificant but they are the ones that are feeding you and I. One farmer will produce eight boxes, if its maize you will find one farmer is producing 30 bags but collectively they are the ones that are feeding you and I. We need to protect that small player in as much as we need to protect the bigger player”, he said.
He said one way of addressing this issue is investment in cold storage facilities and value addition adding that exporting is also an option for bigger players as they can easily find market adding that it is easy to export large quantities of produce.
“Producing tomato paste, tomato puree, tomato sauce that is the direction that should be taken, it can’t be done right now but these are strategies that they need to start adopting going forward”, he said.
Kaleyi has appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry as well as the councils to address the issue and find a solution that benefits everyone.
