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Precious Manomano
Herald Reporter
STAKEHOLDERS in the agriculture industry recently held a two-day workshop in Harare to find ways of empowering African agro-ecological entrepreneurs and territorial markets and train producers on human resource management and effective marketing strategies.
The event was attended by local entrepreneurs, Ministries of Local Government and Public Works, Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development plus Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development and representatives from the agriculture industry.
Conveners of the workshop Knowledge Transfer Africa (KTA) are currently working with the Participatory Land Use Management (PELUM) to roll out a project titled “Advancing African Agro-Ecological Entrepreneurship and Territorial Markets (AAE and TM) to address some of the challenges farmers and markets are facing.
PELUM’s programmes officer, Ms. Farirai Jemwa emphasised the importance of enhancing agro-ecological markets.
“We want more markets on agro-ecology. Many foods have become genetically modified. We should eat healthily and focus more on traditional and indigenous food and there are territorial markets trading them,” she said.
She called for the establishment of an association for African agro-ecological and entrepreneurial territorial markets to amplify their voices.
Meanwhile, the Government has since thrown its weight behind the idea of bolstering African agro-ecological markets and entrepreneurial territorial markets with the hope of empowering supply chains dominated by smallholder farmers, traders, vendors, and low-income consumers in both rural and urban areas.
Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development’s business development officer Ms Memory Mutetwa observed that their role was in providing business management skills, training and facilitating business registration.
“We have a community development fund that assists communities in their projects. It is critical to know where to get help. We want you to grow into bigger companies,” she said.
She said agro-ecological producers played a crucial role in employment generation, contributed to gross domestic product (GDP) growth and boosting food and nutrition security.
“This initiative focuses on identifying, strengthening, and mobilising agro-ecological entrepreneurs and territorial markets to promote the transition toward agro-ecology in Africa,” Ms Mutetwa added.
She said her Ministry also collaborated with the Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) to help businesses meet product standards, emphasising that collective efforts yielded quicker results.
A specialist with Agritex, Ms Shamiso Chikobvu stressed the importance of growing regionally suited crops adding that the Government’s plan was to increase the area under traditional grains this season.
Local entrepreneurs who attended the event also made indications that they needed the right marketing environments to attract business.
Ms Getrude Chambati of Harare who survives on value adding traditional grains like finger millet and products from muringa and baobab revealed that she relied on rural smallholder farmers practicing agro-ecology for raw materials.
“Some of the challenges that we face are lack of resources, we need better market places that attract customers,” she said.
Another entrepreneur doing value addition of traditional grains and vegetables, Mr Moses Chimedza of Chimani Delights said they were doing a lot as a company to process, preserve and sell vegetables in a good state.
Youthful female entrepreneurs from Harare, Senzeni Chigama and Tracey Mapfumo are into drying fruits such as apples and bananas and making chocolates from sesame seeds respectively.
The duo has called on the powers that be to establish proper marketing structures for their products and facilitate easy access to funding for licences. They added that concerted production and trade in traditional and indigenous food systems had potential for significant socio-economic advancement in the region.
“Collective efforts by the Government, NGOs and local entrepreneurs are vital in strengthening agro-ecological markets in Africa,” observed Senzeni.
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