adminESTABLISHED local supermarkets and retailers have come under fire for having an appetite for importing horticultural products from South Africa even when most of these products are readily available from local farmers.
A snap survey carried by the Sunday Business revealed that most big shops were fully stocked with imported farm products that include lemons, grapes, peaches, frozen vegetables, carrots, bananas, cucumbers, beetroot, peaches, plums with very few local products available.
According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency the importation of fresh produce has seen Zimbabwe spending about $4 million in the first three months of the year.
Reports say if that trend is not arrested, the country could spend $16 million this year importing fresh produce that is locally available.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union Matabeleland North chairperson Mr Winston Babbage said local horticulture farmers and traders were failing to find a market for their produce yet local shops were importing the same products elsewhere.
“The big supermarkets are the ones who are causing problems. They are the ones who are importing these products even when they are locally available. They put stringent demands so that the farmers cannot meet those demands,” said Mr Babbage.
A visit to the Bulawayo’s fresh produce market, revealed that it had become a dump site for rotting vegetables.
“It’s very pathetic that you can go to markets and farmers are throwing their vegetables away after failing to secure markets,” said Mr Babbage.
When contacted for comment Zimbabwe Retailers Association Bulawayo Chapter chairperson Mr Simba Phiri said some local retailers were opting for imports because locally produced products were expensive.
“The South African products are cheaper as compared to our local products although their quality is poor as compared to ours. Most of the consumers in the country go for cheap and poor quality rather than good quality and expensive products. The locally produced products are preferred by elite people while the majority go for foreign products. So as retailers we sell what is in demand. It’s as if we don’t want to support local farmers but these are issues that we also face as retailers,” said Mr Phiri.
Buy Zimbabwe economist Mr Kimpton Gundani said policy failure had resulted in the increasing importation of fresh vegetables.
He said policy makers must seriously review their import laws to protect the local horticulture industry.
“The problem is with the policy makers who are allowing the imports into the country. We should have a deliberate policy that limit the importation of products that we can produce. The policy is a failure and has opened up the coming in of foreign goods,” he said.
Mr Gundani said local agriculture industry was facing challenges which could be solved if the consumers buy the products.
Mr Babbage also blasted line ministries for not working together to ensure that there was no importation of fresh produce.
“We have the ministry giving licences to import with another one saying no to imports. Why are these ministries not working together? People are getting a permit to import tomatoes even though they are readily available here.”
Online Reporter