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Edgar Vhera Agriculture Specialist Writer
WITH most smallholder horticulture farmers pinning their hopes of participating in the rural industrialisation programme through transforming their fresh produce projects into serious business entities, local authorities like Harare City Council are not helping the cause by failing to provide adequate and proper infrastructure for the safe handling and storage and selling of produce.
This was once again exposed after the recent rains that have been pounding most parts of the country with farmers, traders and consumers alike – some in gum boots, having to trudge through pools of mud in and around the country’s largest fresh produce market to do their business.
Knowledge Transfer Africa (KTA) Chief Executive Officer Dr Charles Dhewa said the rains that fell in most markets in the country in the last 24 hours were a wakeup call to custodians of local markets to invest in their development.
“The unexpected rains pounding Harare in the past few days have laid bare the need for proper market infrastructure for agricultural commodities, farmers and consumers. In Mbare, early morning activities were subdued because the majority of consumers from high density areas could not get early transport to take them to the market. As has become common over the years, when it rains, Mbare becomes too muddy for consumers, traders and farmers to move around doing their business,” the KTA boss said.
Dr Dhewa said all commodities in the farmers’ market were exposed to rain due to the absence of proper market sheds.
“This has resulted in prices dropping for some commodities with Covo vegetables suffering a 50 percent plunge from US$3 per bundle on Monday to US$1, 50 on Tuesday while prices for rape and tsunga went down to between US$0, 50 and US$1 from US$1, 50 per bundle over the same period. Tomatoes were left trading between US$8 and US$17 per 30 kilogramme sandak compared to between US$10 and US$20 previously,” he added.
He said demand was generally suppressed because some high-density vendors could not get cheap transport while most were hesitant to brave the mud pools in the market.
In the long run Dr Dhewa said, the City of Harare should find an alternative area to develop a world class fresh produce market that will bring sanity and orderliness to trading in agricultural produce.
Zimbabwe Integrated Commercial Farmers Union (ZICFU) president Mrs Mayiwepi Jiti said Mbare market was one of the oldest places supplying fruit and vegetable produce to Harare but was an eyesore, especially in the rainy season.
“Mbare market needs revamping, remodelling and upgrading to make it hygienically accessible for customers, farmers and the traders. The drainage and sewer system and garbage collection need attention. The council collects money from farmers for the use of selling space. This money can be channelled to the provision of proper sanitation at the market,” she said.
Efforts to get City of Harare’s comment on the matter were fruitless, as the authority’s Public Relations Manager, Mr Stanley Gama’s mobile phone was constantly unreachable.
The country continues to import most perishable horticultural products from neighbouring country due to lack of cold-chain infrastructure to extend the shelf life of locally produced products. This mitigates against the Government’s import substitution drive.
Horticulture is one of the key subsectors of the agriculture sector, with substantial production potential across all agro-ecological regions. Zimbabwe’s horticulture sector is diverse – accommodates a lot of products including cut flowers (mostly roses), ornamental plants, a wide variety of vegetables, herbs, spices, essential oils, mushrooms, tree nuts and an assortment of fruits including citrus, mangoes, kiwis, passion fruit, bananas, stone fruit (such as peaches, apples, plums, apricots) and berries.
Online Reporter