Nyimba Farmers Association extension officer has disclosed that the inadequate supply of sunflower has adversely affected their production of cooking oil, resulting in a production drop of 50 percent.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times- ZBT, Nyimba farmers association Extension Officer, Edward Lungu said the plummet in production is due to the suppliers failing to meet the required quantities that the association needs, due to the drought which occurred last season.“Our suppliers of Sunflower didn’t have enough produce to supply us with adequate sunflower to process into cooking oil, so that has been a challenge to our production this year. Previously we used to do very well, the only problem we have is a reduction in the quantities
of sunflower that we bought.”
He revealed. Lungu revealed that after this significant setback, the association veered to the production
of sunflower in bid to mitigate the shortage. “We came up with an idea that, aside from us buying
from farmers we should also start producing the raw materials ourselves, so this farming season we planted close 50 hectares or so of sunflower so that we can try to address the
challenge that we had.” Lungu explained.
He further told ZBT that the association has plans of expanding their production, so that they can cater for other districts as well. “Our production dropped from 1,030 litres to 520 litres.” He stated.
“We actually intend to work with the suppliers that were giving us sunflower and also utilize the one that we’ve planted, so what we’ll be happening is that we shall be getting from our farm as well as
buying from our suppliers, this obviously will lead to a massive change in quantities of
cooking oil.”
He further explained that market price fluctuations have also hindered the business prospects of the association. “We’ve been having challenges in terms of the market price fluctuations, where today the
price is at this level, and tomorrow it fluctuates, so we have instabilities in terms of market price, and ironically the society here where we operate from, want to dictate the pricing saying “Banzanu bagulisa
ati K250 why should you sell it at that price”, forgetting the amount of investment.” He disclosed.
Furthermore, Lungu stated that there is need to orient the consumers on the origination of the price of the finished product so that they understand the production cost attached to producing cooking oil so that both party’s benefit.
