Horticulturists urged to do market research

to produce for ready markets, Horticultural Promotion Council chief executive, Mr Basilio Sandamu has said.
Mr Sandamu said this had potential to boost their earnings. In an interview in Harare on Monday, the HPC chief, said most farmers were failing to take advantage of the demand in certain products that was created by shifts in weather patterns.

“Products such as tomatoes are not readily available in winter so farmers in areas that do not experience frost should grow them and fill the void on the markets.
“The farmers must shift from the trend of growing particular crops simply because a neighbour or someone else has grown them and earned a good income. They must do market research and know what the markets want,” he said.

Mr Sandamu said farmers involved in farming for business should aim to produce for the market and not just act without knowledge of what the market wants.
“It is advisable for farmers to know the time to produce a particular product and its intended market. Most farmers end up with produce rotting by the roadside or in stalls after failing to secure markets,” he commented.

He explained that most agricultural products were seasonal and therefore tended to shape the demand graph so farmers needed to be conversant with such trends.
Added Mr Sandamu: “Zimbabwe is blessed with a good climate and soils that allow farmers to produce high rewarding crops even without irrigation or under greenhouse conditions so farmers must take advantage of that positive factor to improve their earnings.”

Mr Sandamu also challenged farmers to consult the calendar before they decided to grow a particular crop so that they know the demand and supply patterns in advance.
He also revealed that HPC was working with the Fresh Produce Marketers Association of Zimbabwe to help farmers secure markets for their produce.

“Members of the association buy the produce from the farmers and are sometimes even involved in the production of some of the crops.
“Fresh produce buyers such as Favco, Wholesale Fruiterers, Harare Produce Sales and Mutare Produce to name just a few are members to the association and farmers need to link up with them for easy marketing of their produce,” he added.

Mr Sandamu added that although most trade was informal for smallholder producers, it still remained critical for them to have target markets before producing to ensure that they do not incur losses after harvesting. He called on Government to help the farmers through rehabilitating critical infrastructure like dams, irrigation equipment and training them in proper production practices like Kenya has done.