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Tariro Stacey Gatsi
APART from significantly slashing Irish seed potato imports that have for long been bleeding the economy, Government’s push to localise production of the seed has also seen a surge in potato consumption especially among youths.
In a recent X (formerly twitter) post, Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development confirmed a noticeable increase in the consumption of Irish potatoes and rice particularly among the youth demographic.
“There has been an increase in the consumption of Irish potatoes and rice especially among youths. Consequently, a potato value-chain financing facility was introduced in 2021, following the declaration of potato as a strategic food crop in 2021,” read the post.
In May 2022, the Government launched the Potato Value Chain Financing Facility at Parklands Farm in Norton, which is part of the country’s import substitution intervention strategies to boost productivity and profitability in the potato value chain and expand the country’s starch options.
The programme was meant to ease the shortage of the seed potato, which had resulted in the country importing something in the region of 60 percent of its requirements mostly from neighbouring South Africa.
Statistics from Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats) revealed that fresh or chilled potato imports increased 392 percent from US$2, 6 million in 2019 to US$12, 9 million in 2022.
Meanwhile, Government proceeded to implement a ban on imports from South Africa in January 2024, as a measure to safeguard domestic production prompted by the outbreak of the pepper ringspot virus in South Africa.
Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Professor Obert Jiri said the restrictions were meant to protect the local potato industry.
“We will restrict from now on the importation of potatoes so that we protect our farmers from the ringspot virus. It is important that all importers of potatoes comply with this directive during this period, as we do further assessments. We are therefore on the watch because that might also affect our potatoes and potato farmers,” said Prof Jiri.
He added that the issue of seed potato imports was on top of the agenda.
“We will not be allowing imports of seed potato unless it’s really cleared. At the moment we will want to see all the adopted protocols followed. We will be much more comprehensive to ensure there is no risk to our potato growers,” he said.
The total annual potato production countrywide has been increasing over the years with the 2013/14 season recording 400 000 tonnes, a figure that had grown to 600 000 tonnes in the 2019/20 cropping season.
Online Reporter