By Mwape Musonda
A simple survey on most of the juices, drinks, wines and jam products being sold around our country will show us that we are a consumer nation. Almost all the products that fall under this line are imported.
Often times I find myself wondering why we have failed to establish a vibrant industry to produce these products which we consume in large volumes.
Our country is endowed with various kinds of fruits such as mangoes, masukus, quavas, lemons, oranges nsumos, muchenje to mention just a few and these provide for the raw materials required in the production of juices, wines and jam.
Season after season we see all of these foods going to waste because we have failed to establish a value addition industry for them.
Very soon it will be rainy season and once again our drainages be blocked with rotten mangoes which can be used in the manufacturing of mango juice but as a country we have continued to waste these resources.
We have failed to establish the food processing industry which is not a very difficult thing to do because we still pay lip service to the call of diversifying our economy from mining and we still look for external help for solutions yet we fail to utilize what we have.
I am very sure that these same donors who we have continued to beg from often times wonder why as a people we have failed to utilize the many resources we have been blessed with to improve our lives, why as Africans we still ask for more donor help after been pampered with it so much.
As a people I think time has come that we got things in our own hands and change the destiny of our future. Certain issues do not take rocket science to understand, I am calling on all Zambians as especially the business
community to take the initiative to invest in the food processing industry
because they do not call for a lot of resources to establish.
This industry is very well established in most European and even African countries like South Africa and our neighbors Zimbabwe such that it does not only provide for their consumer needs but also employs many of their citizens.
I may not be an expert in this field but from research I was able to establish that for a country to have a successful juice, drinks, wine and jam manufacturing industry it has to invest more in the production of fruits.
You need investment in agricultural engineering so that the so called seasonal fruits can be produced and supplied continuously to the juice manufacturing industry.
This translates to having a lot of agriculture engineers who can develop formulas/chemicals that can increase yield of the fruit bearing trees and the provision of incentives by government to those farmers and manufacturers engaged in the production of products which I can confidently state that government is already providing.
This country already boasts of producing a decent number of graduates every year in agriculture science but most of the specialists are remain underutilized in their field.
I believe this country can greatly benefit from the expertise of agriculture engineers/scientists if only we can become serious with economic diversification into agriculture.
Let me also take this opportunity to challenge all of you agriculture specialists in this country to make use of this information and come up with the solutions. I say the time for business as usual is up and its time you made some serious contributions in this country.
Not very long ago the world used to wait about six to nine months before people could taste a village chicken until an agriculturist developed the formula that could make chicken mature in six weeks. Am told that these days chickens even mature in three days.
If this same kind of engineering could be applied to the farming of fruits in our country am sure we can produce more than enough for the sustainability of the processing industry which can become a real means for employment creation for the youths of our country.
God bless Zambia.
The author is a Humanism activist and a member of ZICA
This article has indeed been very insightful and straight to the point. without beating about, the rather unfortunate pointblank reality is that we are not reaching up to par in our performance in many spheres, and critically agriculture, as it is the backbone of the livelihoods of the majority of Zambians. There is an urgent need for us to wake up from our superstitious “all is well” utopia. Our dept is annually increasing, our dependence on aid is increasingly embarrassing, our fruit processing industry barely significantly making it’s presence known. Our hope future however is high, because there are people like yourselves to make the first move by recognizing the need for a change. God Bless.
Dear mwape,
I share the same opinion. By the way I am specialist in the field of science that can address those concerns. I hold not only higher professional /academic credentials but experience in the field of Food Processing, and to be honest my heart bleeds for the mother Zambia. All the produce that are imported can be manufactured in Zambia. I am now specializing in postharvest technology, a perfect skill that can combine, fruit preservation, processing which you call value addition and economic growth. Zambia is not devoid of professionals in the field. For your information in the school of Agriculture at UNZA there is a specialized filed call Food Science and technology, those are the ones that can actually address the aspect of fruit processing, value addition and preservation. But three critical questions need to addressed;
1. where did Zambia go wrong? Or
2. What is it that is not done right?
3. How can it be corrected? Or turn around the agricultural industry especially in fruit and vegetable industry?
I will assist in answering these questions.
1 The government has a huge responsibility to formulate policies that can either promote or demote the development of locally produced products . This can be done by lowering the percentage or give incentives to those that producing products locally. How can Zambians be drinking ‘changanya’ merely water and food colours and they call them soft drinks? Its pathetic to say the list. This policy worked wel during the Kaunda era, but soon after liberalisation of economy in 1991, we saw privatisation of industry and the lone industry ZAMHORT which was a huge buyer of fruits and adding value in form of producing juices, pastes, like tomato pastes, juices, mango, pineapple juices, was sold, and the new owners, stripped the STATE OF ART company and crippled it down, as such if you go Mwinilunga now, all the pineapple farms are a mere bush now., mangoes rotting etc..
2. Even though UNZA is training specialist in (FOOD SCIENTIST) the prospective business people are not ready to take a risk to employ them and transform this industry. What comes to my mind, is that its either UNZA has not marketed the professional to end user or, students themselves are half backed and have no confidence to turn around the economy in this area. But the first option seem to tilt the scale.
3.There is need for advocacy, change the policies to favor locally produced products and create market for locally products than favor foreign products.
Honestly, its sad to import Eggs, cabbage, tomatoes, mangoes, guavas, yet we can produce these products?? The introduction of SHOPRITE, FOOD LOVERS, HUNGRY LION, KFC, all those are South African companies, yet products in those shops can be produced in this country? Zambians businessmen day in day out travel to South Africa to buy tones and turn of apples.
The South African white man (colonialist) invested in Science and Technology. Now that I have shown you that is feasible, does Zambia have such professionals, the answer is YES, and most of technologies, if my memory serves me right, were developed by the National Council for Scientific Research which Kaunda Invested a lot of money but now has become like a white elephant just equivalent to a school like a Kabulonga secondary school science laboratory.
My brother Mr Mwape, visit UNZA and the named institution they can surely be a starting point to solve the much needed development of fruit industry.
I am available for consultancy in the field, you please feel free to drop an email and we can discuss [email protected]
I rarely comment on articles but this touched feelings
Thank You For The Insightful Feedback, I Really Appreciate.
I Like That You Are A Specialist In This Field And That You Have Highlighted Institutions Like UNZA And NCSR Which Is Now NISIR To Have Been The Pioneers Of Agro-Economic Solutions In The COuntry.
I Personally Have A Lot Of Information On the Operations Of NISIR Currently And I Can Say That It Can Do Better Than It Is Currently Doing With More Political Will.
You See In Zambia Right Now We Need Some Action From Both The Politicians And The Business Community In Order To Attain Diversification From Copper Mining.
I Feel More People Especially You Should Engage In Advocate For Real Economic Diversification And If Possible Provide Solutions/Options Not Just Politicking.
I Appreciate Your Information And I Will Take Time To Visit UNZA And Also Won’t Hesitate To Contact You For More Information.