Maravi

Unified Chemicals boss calls for incentives to soya farmers

Unified Chemicals boss calls for incentives to soya farmers
By Oliver Sinyangwe
Thursday February 21, 2008 [03:00]

UNIFIED Chemicals Company marketing manager Sarana Dash has called for incentives to soya bean farmers as a way to boost production of the crop. In an interview, Dash said the current production levels of soya beans in the country were not enough to cater for the demand by cooking oil-manufacturing companies. He said the deficit of soya beans was compelling cooking oil manufacturers to import the commodity so as to satisfy their requirements.

“The country is loosing forex when we import soya beans from other countries, because at the moment the local farmers’ production of soya beans which is our core raw material like us the manufacturers of Ole cooking oil is not enough to cater for what we require,” Dash said.

“It is unfortunate that we have to import this commodity from other countries when in fact the country is blessed with ideal soil and climate for growing soya beans.”

He said it was not only costly for the country in terms of foreign exchange loss but also a drain on the company as it was more expensive to import than buy locally.

Meanwhile Dash bemoaned what he termed the excessive importation of exotic cooking oil brands to the local market.

Dash said the importation of these products hindered the growth of the local manufacturing companies and consequently, reduced the capacity to create jobs for the local people.

“We are facing serious problems as manufacturers, despite producing high quality cooking oil; we have a lot of imported products which are creating a stiff competition for us. This is not good for the economy of the country as a whole because we are being hindered to expand and create more jobs for the people. The more we import, the more we lose our forex and impoverish our people,” complained Dash.

He appealed to government to quickly find a way of reducing cooking oil imports because this could serve as a measure of encouraging local manufacturing and job creation.

Dash said that local companies had the capacity to satisfy the market with high quality cooking oil products without imports.

Labels: SOYA

posted by MrK @ 7:44 AM