Since last year, the Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA) has been consulting with local farmers to encourage and assist them setting up clusters. According to SEZA CEO Lonely Mogara, the clusters will fill the gap and help satisfy the demand for sunflower seeds for investors setting up in local Special Economic Zones.
“Local farmers are set to benefit from the emergence of an international investor who will be producing cold-pressed natural sunflower cooking oil from sunflower seeds that will be mainly sourced from local farmers,” he said.
Mogara said ramping up production in clusters will resolve the current shortage and enable local farmers to participate in processing sunflower seed and its by-products. He said the sunflower oil production project will present additional supply chain opportunities in transportation, supply, servicing and leasing of farming equipment, as well as provision of extension services like soil testing, pest control and logistics.
“This is in line with the government’s commitment to exploiting value chains. Post-processing, local businesses can benefit from opportunities in packaging, marketing and transporting of finished products to markets,” he said.
It is expected that the project will create employment, further reduce the import bill and improve the country’s food security. It will also support local farmers by supplying them with protein-rich sunflower cake for livestock feeding.
The sunflower cake is a by-product of the cooking oil manufacturing process. SEZA believes that the project is ideal for Botswana’s arid climate, as sunflowers thrive in locations with direct sunlight.
Sunflowers need long, hot summers to flower well. Most importantly, said Mogara, enhancing the value chain will improve the livelihood of smallholder farmers, ensure competitiveness in the global market and ultimately contribute to economic growth. “We will address imperfections along the value chain to minimise the disparity between farm gate and retail prices and ensure that the sunflower oil manufacturing project enhances agricultural productivity and alleviates poverty,” he said.
While demand and importation of oilcake and vegetable oil have increased substantially in Southern Africa over the years, there has been virtually no real growth in the sunflower farming industry. Figures from Statistics Botswana indicate that sunflower oil imports rose from P291 million in 2019 to P484 million in 2024. Between 2019 and 2022, Botswana imported over P10 million worth of oilcake and other solid residues of sunflower seed.
