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Elton Manguwo
FARMERS producing crops for export markets must ride on the country’s successful employment of sustainable production methods in line with current global trends to penetrate export markets, the national premier trade development and promotion agency, ZimTrade has said.
In its latest issue of the ZimTrade newsletter the company’s export promotion officer Sheron Chingonzo urged horticultural producers to consider Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA), which is an audit to understand standards of labour, health, safety, environmental performance and ethics within one’s operations or those of their suppliers.
“The audit will allow for easier penetration into the market and increase one’s competitiveness,” said Chingonzo.
The ZimTrade push comes in the wake of the compiling of the Fruit Logistica 2023 trend report that revealed that most important business trends at the expo and in the international market were now moving towards adopting sustainable production practices.
“A snap survey done during the just ended Fruit Logistica fair showed that a lot more consumers want to know if the fruit and vegetables they buy have been produced ethically and are good for the planet as well as their health,” said Chingonzo.
The report also states that the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and its Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have brought to the fore the need for sustainable and ethical production in line with curbing the effects of climate change.
In response, fruit and vegetable growers, suppliers and retailers have set ambitious environmental targets in addition to investments in sustainability. Fruit Logistica is one of the most recognised trade fairs that allows the gathering of decision makers in the horticulture sector in one place.
Chingonzo highlighted that during the fair most buyers wanted to know if producers were putting systems in place or at least had plans to ensure they are complying with current trends and growing calls for sustainable business practices.
“This is therefore a call on local farmers to produce with the market in mind and that entails investing in new technology and new strategies to ensure they remain competitive,” she said stressing how energy use, packaging and transport require improvements in terms of their efficiency and impacts.
Horticultural exports from Zimbabwe are tipped to grow in this year owing to growing interest among producers to venture into export business, as well as the rising interest from buyers to source from local producers.
“Farmers looking to tap into international markets are therefore encouraged to utilise ZimTrade’s value added services, which include access to market intelligence as well as capacity development,” said Chingonzo
ZimTrade chief executive officer Mr Allan Majuru said as part of the company’s mandate to grow exports they were focusing on capacity building by teaching farmers on market penetration, value addition, global trends and packaging since they are key to success the exports business.
Online Reporter