The Sunday Mail
On October 19, stakeholders drawn from across most arms of Government, the business sector, farmers and the banking world will convene at a Harare hotel for what should be engrossing and eye-opening exchanges on what opportunities the castor bean offers the country.
With the country still fresh from memories of a still-born jatropha project, which at the turn of millennium got the country excited, the coming of the castor bean has been met with pessimism in some quarters, hence the all-stakeholders’ conference.
“Castor bean growing is a billion-dollar industry in other countries and we just need to get our ducks in a row. That is why we have invited almost everyone from Government, to come and explain policy and give guidance.
“We have also invited bankers to give financial insight so that farmers can learn. Captains of industry will also speak on the value addition, processing and benefits of castor beans.
“What should be interesting is that we will have a presentation from the Indian Embassy, because India is one of the leading producers of castor oil in the world today. The presentation will speak on the challenges and benefits of growing castor, both at a household level and at a national level,” said Israel Kembo, the convener of the conference.
The convention, to be held under the theme ‘Castor Beans: Unlocking Sustainable Economic Growth’, will draw presentations from the Ministries of Finance; Lands, Agriculture, Climate and Rural Settlement; Health and Child Care as well as the apex bank, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Investment Authority and farmers’ organisations.
“There is excitement around castor beans as well as a lot of questions. For instance, castor oil will be a major foreign currency earner, will it receive the same treatment from Government as other foreign currency-earning crops? Will farmers be paid in foreign currency? Will they receive incentives?
“The Ministry of Health and Child Care will look at the immense benefits to be derived from castor oil as it is used in most pharmaceutical products. ‘The Ministry of Industry and Commerce will look at the exportation of our castor either as raw beans or processed.
“The production and processing of castor beans dovetail with Government’s vision of devolution, as we envisage a long-term situation where almost every province will have a castor oil processing centre. What is produced in a certain province should immediately be value-added in that province,” explained Kembo.
He said besides oil, there are several by-products from processing castor bean, especially the cake, which can be off-taken by livestock farmers as it is a healthy livestock feeding option.
Kembo’s Life Brand Agricultural Services, which is convening the convention, is at the heart of an aggressive castor bean propagation programme that has seen thousands of farmers across the country being contracted to grown the seed.
“We have contracted a number of farmers to propagate seed and there is an ongoing exercise to contract farmers to grow the castor bean. More farmers will be contracted around March/April when we harvest more seed.
‘‘If we are lucky with the wet spell, we can start planting there and then as the plant does not need much rain, just enough for germination. Thereafter, it survives as a bush.”
Kembo said his initial plans to target 150 000 hectares of castor bean this year have failed because of funding constraints.
“We have revised our targets to a more realistic 25 000 hectares this year and next year, we should double that.”
He said the castor bean project will directly bring a substantial number of jobs on the market. A number of downstream sectors will also benefit.
