Mzimba soya farmers stranded
After selling soya beans at K330 per kilogramme (kg) last year, farmers in Mzimba are now stranded with huge tonnes of the crop due to, among others, overproduction.
Meanwhile, the price of the crop has gone down to as low as K120 per kilogramme (kg).
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development set K280 as minimum price per kg for the crop this year, which means at K120, vendors are buying at K160 less than the recommended price and it is K210 less than the K330 they earned last year.
To make matters worse, some farmers from the neighbouring Zambia are reportedly flooding Edingeni in Mzimba with soya because the market is not encouraging in their country.
One of the farmers in Mzimba, Dorah Mvula of Timoti Jere Village, under Inkosi ya Makosi M’mbelwa V, said porous borders with Zambia have led to an influx of the crop from the neighbouring country.
“We stopped cultivating tobacco because the market was not conducive. Our thinking was that soya is the real deal, and it is, but the market is not that good for all the farmers. You look at labour, and then someone wants to buy at K120 per kg, would you make any profit with that price?”
Meanwhile, Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) is yet to start buying the crop from farmers.
Admarc spokesperson Agnes Chikoko said in an interview that they are still negotiating for better prices on the international market.
“When we buy soya, it means we want to export,” she said. n
