Oilseeds

Article 8 describes how South Africa built a soya industry almost from scratch, with gross value of production of roughly R2.25 billion on the 2012/13 baseline, soy oil making up about 18% of the seed and the meal anchoring animal feed. Article 10 places sunflower as the core South African oilseed for cooking oil, grown on the drier western side of the maize belt. Article 9 explains that groundnut output is modest and volatile.

Zimbabwe’s soya bean harvest reached 119,067 tonnes from 56,562 hectares in 2025/26, more than double the previous season, and domestic supply now covers a far larger share of its crushers’ needs than a decade ago. Zambia’s 2025/26 soya harvest is estimated at about 450,000 tonnes, recovering toward its 2023 record of 760,000 tonnes, and the government targets 3 million tonnes by 2031. Botswana's Pandamatenga farms planted about 10,500 hectares of sunflower in 2021, most of it sold to South Africa because local crushing demand is small. Namibia imported 24,145 tonnes of vegetable oil worth N$874.9 million in 2022, with 99.9% of its sunflower oil coming from South Africa.

South African oilseed prices are discovered on SAFEX and follow world soya and sunflower markets. Zimbabwe’s GMB pays US$583.01 a tonne for soya beans and US$670.46 for sunflower for 2025/26, and private crushers and contractors compete for the crop. Zambia’s soya price is set by private buyers, with crushers and feed mills the main market. Prices move with global markets and the exchange rate, and they are lowest at harvest from April to June.

Soya fetches far more per tonne than maize in every market because of its protein value, which is why it is the natural rotation partner for maize and the higher-value of the two crops.

Article 8 makes the central trade point: countries that export raw beans and import back the meal and oil give away the margin. South Africa crushes most of its own soya. Zambia is positioning itself as a regional exporter of soya meal rather than raw beans, with most of its crop processed at home. Article 10 points out that Africa spends billions of dollars importing cooking oil it could produce. Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia import a large share of their edible oil and protein meal, so local crushers and feed mills look for local beans to replace imports.

Seed and inoculant suppliers, farmers, traders and marketing boards feed the crushers. Crushers sell oil to refiners and food manufacturers and meal to feed mills, which sell feed to poultry, pig, dairy and fish farmers. Article 9 shows the groundnut chain splitting into oil, peanut butter and confectionery, with the higher-value outlets demanding the best quality.

For a small farmer the best buyers are usually a crusher or feed mill within trucking distance, or a contractor who supplies seed and inputs against the crop. Groundnuts sold shelled and graded to a peanut butter maker or packed as roasted snacks earn far more than unshelled nuts sold at the farm gate.

Soya is graded on moisture, foreign matter and split beans. Genetically modified soya is grown in South Africa; Zambia and Zimbabwe restrict GM crops, so seed must be non-GM. Article 9 identifies the decisive barrier for groundnuts: aflatoxin. Groundnuts that are poorly dried or stored develop the toxin, and buyers who test for it reject contaminated lots, which closes the premium and export markets to growers who cannot control it.

Soya also needs inoculant, a bacterial treatment that lets the plant fix its own nitrogen, and it is sensitive to planting date and weeds early in the season.

Real minimum capital. Soya needs seed, inoculant, phosphate and potash fertiliser, herbicide and harvesting, usually by combine. It needs less nitrogen than maize because it fixes its own. Small farmers often harvest by hand and thresh on the farm, which is labour-intensive but avoids hiring machinery.

Input choke points. Non-GM certified seed, inoculant kept cool until planting, and timely weed control. Hand harvesting must happen before pods shatter.

Offtake options. The marketing board, private crushers, feed mills and contractors who supply inputs on credit. For groundnuts, peanut butter makers, snack processors and urban traders.

Who to call. In Zimbabwe, the GMB, oil expressers and soya contractors. In Zambia, crushers and feed mills in the main production areas. In Botswana and Namibia, feed mills that currently import meal and may buy local beans. In South Africa, a grain trader or cooperative.

The verdict for a small holding. Soya is the best-paying field crop of the three grain Majors and a strong rotation with maize, provided a crusher or feed mill is within reach. Groundnuts are worth growing only with proper drying and storage that keeps aflatoxin out, ideally sold into peanut butter or snacks rather than raw.

Soybean, sunflower and groundnut are summer crops planted with the rains and harvested about four to five months later. Groundnuts are lifted, dried in the field and shelled. Soybeans are often grown in rotation with maize because they fix nitrogen and cut the next maize crop's fertiliser bill.

An oilseed is sold for what the crusher can extract from it. Sunflower seed yields roughly 40% oil and the rest as oilcake and hulls; soybean yields about 18% oil and the rest as high-protein meal, which is the main product and feeds the region's poultry and pigs. Groundnuts are sold shelled and graded for eating, peanut butter or crushing. The crusher earns on both streams, oil for the kitchen and meal for the feed mill.

Oilseeds are graded on moisture, foreign matter, damaged seed and, for sunflower, oil content. Groundnuts are graded on kernel size and soundness and, above all, aflatoxin, a toxin from mould that can bar a load from the food market. Clean, dry delivery is the difference between food grade and crushing grade.

Oilseeds are lost to fungal diseases in wet seasons and to aflatoxin after harvest. This is the owner's checklist, not the science: enough to protect the investment and supervise the expert.

• Soybean rust. Plant on time and spray when the agronomist confirms rust.
• Sclerotinia on soybean and sunflower. Rotate crops and avoid planting on infested land.
• Groundnut rosette and leaf spots. Plant early, at the right density, with clean seed.
• Aflatoxin in groundnuts. Dry quickly, store dry and keep out damaged kernels.
• Birds on sunflower. Harvest promptly once the heads are ripe.

When to call the expert. Call the agronomist at the first sign of leaf spotting, wilting or mould on stored seed.

These are the specialists a oilseeds business needs as it grows. You do not need to do their work; you need to know who they are, when to bring them in and what to expect from them. Module C11 teaches how to recruit, contract and manage them.

Choose one oilseed and run T-M3-02 Input Plan per Hectare and T-M3-03 Yield-to-Income Calculator at the student’s market price. Enter the result in T-M3-01 Enterprise Budget alongside the maize budget from M1 to compare the two crops on the same land. Test storage in T-M3-04 and compare prices in T-M3-05. Name the nearest crusher or feed mill and its distance from the farm.

Calculators: T-M3-01 Enterprise Budget, T-M3-02 Input Plan per Hectare, T-M3-03 Yield-to-Income Calculator, T-M3-04 Storage versus Sell-at-Harvest, T-M3-05 Market Price Comparator.

Library sources: LIB-A008, LIB-A009, LIB-A010; LIB-P-Soybean, LIB-P-Sunflower, LIB-P-Sunflower-IP, LIB-P-Canola, LIB-P-Groundnut; LIB-C-ZW-Oilseeds, LIB-C-ZM-Oilseeds, LIB-C-BW-Oilseeds, LIB-C-NA-Oilseeds.