adminBusiness Reporter
A Dutch expert, Piet Hein De Wit, is currently in the country to conduct a scoping exercise for Small-Scale horticultural farmers identified by ZimTrade to benefit from the PUM intervention programme. His visit comes less than a month since the signing of an MoU between ZimTrade and PUM, shows that the Netherlands is committed to assist Zimbabwe in growing horticultural exports.Mr De Wit’s agenda includes meeting with a number of horticultural SMEs, buyers from retailers such as OK Zimbabwe, Pick n Pay and Food Lovers. He will also meet the Fresh Produce Marketing Association as well as visiting Mbare Musika.
The expert possesses vast business experience in international export promotion consultancy. He has successfully conducted similar exercises in Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Egypt), South America (Brazil) and Europe (Germany, Belgium) to name but a few.
“We are glad that the PUM programme has kicked off. The horticulture sector is a low hanging fruit because of its quick returns. With appropriate interventions such as the PUM programme, the sector can be turned around for sustainable export growth,” said the ZimTrade CEO, Ms Sithembile Pilime.
The partnership with PUM is expected to address challenges in input management, production efficiencies, processing as well as packaging and labelling, among others.
Online Reporter