adminDumisani Nsingo, Senior Farming Reporter
A BULAWAYO business taskforce has made a scathing attack targeting the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development for offering certain companies import permits to bring in cheap horticultural produce into the country in spite of a ban which was imposed last year.
The taskforce comprises the Agricultural Marketing Authority, Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU), Matabeleland Agriculture Business Chamber (MABC), the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority and Border Control Unit.
Speaking at a stakeholder meeting for the development of a horticultural sector policy for Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on Thursday, ZFU Matabeleland North provincial chairman Mr Winston Babbage accused the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development of being insensitive about the plight of horticultural producers by allowing fresh produce to “clandestinely” enter the country.
“Our taskforce conducted an investigation and managed to discover that the Ministry (of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development) was still issuing out import permits against the background that it said it had suspended doing so.
“What the Ministry is doing shows that it is not sincere because we have been complaining about cheap horticultural produce especially potatoes flooding our market and pushing our farmers out of business,” Mr Babbage said.
Last year Government suspended the importation of all perishable agricultural produce and cancelled all existing import permits, in a development which was meant to promote local products. This was after relentless complaints by farmers that cheap imported produce was flooding the local market and negatively affecting their operations.
“We established that the trucks actually move at night and even traced one of them to a warehouse in Harare where the potatoes are repackaged and put on the market,” Mr Babbage said.
MABC director Mr Gerald Bhebhe said it was difficult to prosecute anyone found liable of importing fresh vegetable produce as there was no legislation to that effect.
“There is no Statutory Instrument that allows for the prosecution of those who are found to be importing horticultural produce because there isn’t such legislation. It was only a declaration which was made by the word of mouth. It has to be noted that some Statutory Instruments are under Agriculture but are coordinated through other Ministries like the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. However, we noted that horticultural produce have not been added or listed on the Statutory Instrument schedule for them to be banned to come in as imports,” Mr Bhebhe said.
However, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Deputy Minister responsible for crop production and irrigation development Davis Marapira said the ministry issues permits only if a particular product is in short supply on the market.
“We don’t offer permits willy-nilly. We only do that when we are obliged to do so by market indicators. Of course we sometimes get wrong indications from the market but the biggest perpetrators ought to be farmer organisations because we rely mostly on information we get from them,” Dep Min Marapira said.
He, however, said the ministry has also been hoodwinked by some unscrupulous companies that purport to be applying for permits to import products that are in short supply locally only to import those which farmers are adequately producing.
“People should also understand that most of the goods are smuggled into the country. There is a lot which needs to be done on our borders to avert this. We also have some companies that apply for permits to import apples for instance, only for them to bring in potatoes and are left to pass through at the borders,” Dep Min Marapira said.
He said farmers should desist from blaming the ministry for their own shortcomings further stating that they should use proper channels to forward their grievances.
“Farmers should desist from always pointing fingers at the Government. They have never written a letter to the Ministry or
the permanent secretary advising us of the anomaly and they expect us to act while we are not aware of the on-goings. These unions should just be realistic and learn to serve farmers, which is their core business not to abuse farmers’ monies without doing their duties,” Dep Min Marapira said.
Despite challenges faced by horticulture farmers, over the past four years, production of fresh produce in the country has been moving on a positive trend encouraged by the Government’s agricultural development programmes. Last year ZFU released a 10-year Horticulture Strategic Plan aimed at guiding the development and revival of the sector in a bid to restore the country’s global competitive status in the production of fresh produce.
derick.khumalo