• The Association would have come close to meeting the projected production for 2023.
• Eastern and Central provinces have been severely affected by soya bean rust.
• CEDORA has engaged some seed companies in a bid to start change soya bean cultivation.

Crushers and Edible Oil Refiners Association (CEDORA) says the projected production of 1 million metric tonnes of soya beans this year has been hampered by massive outbreak of soya bean rust disease.
CEDORA Director Aubrey Chibumba told Money FM News in an interview that if not for the severe rust disease especially in Eastern and Central provinces, the Association would have come close to meeting the projected production for 2023.
Dr. Chibumba stated that the Association has since engaged some seed companies in a bid to start change soya bean cultivation so as to limit the damage in the fields and end up with higher production levels.
“If it had not been for massive outbreak of the soya bean rust disease, we probably would have come close to 1 million tonnes this year. But Eastern and Central provinces have been severely affected by soya bean rust.”
“So one of the things that we are doing now is that we have engaged some seed companies, we want to start changing cultivation practices for soya beans so that they can account for soya bean rust. We want to start limiting the damage in the fields for us to hopefully end up with larger crops. Once the soya bean rust is around, it doesn’t go away,” Dr. Chibumba stated.
CEDORA has a five year objective of increasing soya bean production to about 1 million tonnes a year and the Association also wants to increase cotton seed production to about 500, 000 metric tonnes and sunflower 500, 000 metric tonnes per annum.