Soya Bean Production & Crushing
Oil Seeds / Cooking Oil · Primary production and crushing
National soya bean throughput is 60,000 MT against 220,000 MT national requirement. Zimbabwe's oil-seed crushing capacity of 610,000 MT is heavily under-fed — a classic import-substitution opportunity with fast payback.
The current demand for soya bean outweighs supply, creating opportunities for farmers and the industry to cover the disparity. The soya bean throughput is currently 60,000 MT against national requirement of 220,000 MT. Zimbabwe has an estimated oil-seed crushing capacity of 610,000 MT per annum, sufficient to satisfy domestic demand for cooking oil, but due to insufficient throughput from local agricultural production, there is over-reliance on imported soya bean and crude oil.
Zimbabwe is over-reliant on imported soya bean and crude cooking oil despite having oil-seed crushing capacity of 610,000 MT per annum — 10x current national throughput.
Where the capital goes.
Soya bean is a short-season crop with strong ROI. The general cost structure per hectare ranges from US$700 to US$900 at full absorption. A farmer targets 3.5 tonnes/ha (up to 6 tonnes/ha) with minimum income around US$2,000 after 4.5 months at ruling prices of US$550/tonne — a gross return of at least US$1,100/ha. The break-even yield is around 1.7 tonnes/ha; farmers can rake up to US$3.00 per US$1 invested. Investment opportunities span primary production, contract farming schemes, storage/warehousing and oil-seed crushing capacity utilisation.
Numbers from the prospectus.
Local demand, export demand and production gaps.
Why Zimbabwe.
Approximately 33 million hectares of arable land for crop and livestock production.
Over 10,000 small, medium and large dams — potential to irrigate up to 2 million hectares.
Temperate climate favourable across five agro-ecological regions.
Strong human capital base with a 90% literacy rate.
Strategic location on the North-South Corridor — regional logistics hub.
Preferential market access through SADC, COMESA, ACP, AfCFTA and WTO.
Multi-currency system eliminating exchange rate risk; dividends and profits freely remittable.
Investment Promotion & Protection Agreements (bilateral and multilateral).
Enabling infrastructure.
Why invest in this opportunity.
Register interest in Soya Bean Production & Crushing.
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