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AGRO-processing firm, Cairns Foods Mutare has started a contract farming programme for growing white pen beans (Michigan beans) which used to be imported from Malawi.Cairns Foods Mutare operations manager Mr Joseph Mavhu said they had already started contract farming with Himalaya small-holder farmers and co-operatives in line with the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation initiative.
Mr Mavhu said importing white pen beans was the same as exporting jobs out of the country, adding that growing the beans locally would cut costs nearly by half.
“We realised we were shooting ourselves in the foot if we kept importing white beans. Contract farming capacitates indigenous small-holder farmers and guarantees them of a market, so it is a win-win situation.
“We hope to advance this programme to other horticultural areas,” said Mr Mavhu.
The Buy Zimbabwe campaign has been impelling local companies and consumers to prioritise locally manufactured products. It has also been pushing for the revival of the country’s manufacturing and agronomy sectors which used to be robust in the 1990’s.
Commercial farmers at Cashel Valley Farm in Chimanimani used to grow most of the white beans. However, resettled farmers after the agrarian land reform at the farm failed to meet the demand of the white beans, which pressed Cairns Foods to import from Malawi.
Cairns Foods provisionally shut-down in 2012 due to acute working capital challenges and was placed under judicial management until now.
Mr Mavhu said the group aimed to increase capacity utilisation from the current average of 40 percent across its divisions. The factory is currently producing just two products, Sun Jam and baked beans.
“We used to employ about 600 people, but we currently employ about 80. If we re-capitalise and go back to normal, we will employ about 300 employees because we would have mechanised.
“As Cairns Foods, we want Government to be vigilant of our porous borders where goods come in duty free and are sold cheaper or where some sub-standard products are dumped and sold cheaply at ridiculous prices,” said Mr Mavhu.
When Cairns closed its Mutare Fruit and Vegetable factory in 2012, the upstream and downstream industries felt the heat with small-scale horticulture farmers drawn from Honde Valley, Rusitu, Eastern Highlands, Chisumbanje and Nyanga being the hardest hit.
Cairns were the country’s sole manufacturer of canned basic fruits and vegetable products such as tomato paste, baked beans and jam.
Mr Mavhu said about 4 550 farmers used to supply produce to Cairns Foods, earning at least $1,8 million in revenue annually.
He said the firm was targeting a 35 percent growth in the market share of its products buoyed by improved capacity utilisation.
The snacks division is currently driving the company’s performance with capacity utilisation topping over 60 percent.
Mr Mavhu said the chipping business was, however, facing stiff competition from imports from South Africa and called on the Government to further enforce the Buy Zimbabwe campaign.
“Potatoes are cheaper in South Africa at $5 per pocket compared to Zimbabwe where they sell at about $10 per pocket.
The SA government also gives subsidies to farmers, pushing prices of produce down. Exporting companies in that country also receive incentives including a favourable exchange rate. So Government should push for such incentives to assist local industry against the backdrop of cheap imports,” said Mr Mavhu.
He added that the cost of the United States dollar, the prime currency of trade in Zimbabwe, was also making local production more expensive than in South Africa.
Online Reporter