• At the moment, the country still has the stock.
• This is the first time the country has reached March with onion on the market.
• Next year Zambia will not import any single onion.
Fruit and Vegetable Traders Association of Zambia says the country currently has enough onion to meet local demand following the ban on importation of the commodity.
Speaking in an interview with Money FM News, Association President Bernard Sikunyongana states that the institution has been able to local farmers who were having the over K23 million worth of onion which was at the verge of going to waste due to importation.
Mr. Sikunyongana stated that this is the first time Zambia has reached the month of March with adequate onion still on the market.
“At the moment we still have stocks for the nation to use, trucks are still coming and we still have our local production. ZNFU gave us contact numbers for those farmers and we have been in touch with them and we have been buying from those farmers,” Mr. Sikunyongana said.
He says by next year, the country will not import any onion because the Association is currently training farmers in rural areas on the need to produce more of the commodity to satisfy the local and export markets.
“We are running now a program where we want to go to all the districts and train farmers and take this news to say Zambia now has banned the importation can you start producing. So this is the message we are taking. This is the first time we have reached March we still have the stocks of onion but otherwise the situation next year we will not even import any single onion,” he stated.
Recently, government suspended the importation of onions and potatoes following an outcry from farmers.
