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Tendai Gukutikwa
Post Reporter
FARMERS in Honde Valley (Mutasa) and surrounding districts have increased banana and avocado production as plans to establish a horticultural processing plant at Hauna Growth Point gather momentum.
This follows a US$500 000 grant from the African Development Bank (ADB), which is coming through the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to Government.
The money will be used to set up of the fruit processing plant which will largely benefit women and the youth.
The Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small to Medium Enterprises is spearheading the project and acquired land to construct the plant in 2018.
The project, which then stalled, is now in full swing and will provide long lasting solutions to the intricate problems that were being faced by horticultural producers in the district.
Mutasa is the biggest producer of bananas and avocados, among other fruits, but the farmers are confronted by a myriad of challenges that discourage production.
Manicaland provincial development officer in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small to Medium Enterprises, Mr Gabriel Jaji said the equipment will get to Hauna by August.
“We are in the process of registering the processing plant because we want it to operate as a viable company. After that, we will want the farmers to acquire and own company shares.
“This will be a viable business that should not only serve the interests of farmers from Mutasa but the whole nation,” he said.
“We have successful projects that are already running across the country, including the Tasimudzirwa Women’s Gold Milling plant in Guruve, the Madora Amacimbi plant in Beitbridge and a tomato processing plant in Mutoko. We tool notes from there,” he said.
Mr Jaji said farmers will be linked to lucrative local, regional and international markets.
“The processing plant will be used by farmers to boost economic growth and address challenges currently being faced by horticultural producers. It will address market and transport challenges.
“We engaged farmers on the kind of plant they need, and they suggested the setting up of a banana powder/flour plant. A farmer can sell banana flour for at least US$20 per kilogramme. This is way better than selling raw bananas for peanuts,” he said.
Mr Jaji said the processed products will ensure that the farmers get high value markets like supermarkets so that they are not ripped off by middlemen.
Mrs Chipo Berejena, a banana farmer in Honde Valley, said bananas are selling for USD$0.10 per kg at the markets in Harare and Mutare.
She said with the processing plant nearby, farmers will get better returns for the processed product.
They will also incur less costs to ferry their produce.
Another farmer, Mrs Shylet Mwedzi said the fruit processing plant will extricate women and the youth from poverty.
She decried losses incurred when vehicles carrying the highly perishable products get involved in road accidents.
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