Chronicle Editor
Sikhulekelani Moyo, Business Reporter
THE country’s trade development and promotion agency, ZimTrade, has urged small-scale farmers to value-add bananas and tap into the US$15,2 billion global export market.
Value addition of bananas is the processing of raw fruit into higher-quality products to meet ever changing tastes and preferences of consumers locally and internationally.
ZimTrade says value addition has proved that if implemented well, it can increase earnings for local farmers while boosting the country’s exports.
“The global total imports for fresh and dried bananas in 2020 was US$15,2 billion.
United States of America is the largest importer of dried bananas in the world and is currently importing US$2,5 billion worth of bananas,” said ZimTrade in a latest update.
“Belgium is the second largest importer and imports 7,4 percent of the global dried banana market and other markets constitute 75,8 percent of the entire global market.
“One of the major advantages of value addition is increased export earnings as products become more competitive on the international market and also creates employment opportunities in the communities.”
ZimTrade said the drive towards value addition was also the best strategy for farmers in terms of reducing post-harvest losses.
“The country already has rich natural endowments and great potential to produce high quality goods and services with greater competitiveness,” it said.
“Most horticultural produces are homogeneous, therefore, value adding to a generic product can be regarded to be valuable as producing something new or in way that competitors have not introduced before.”
ZimTrade also said there are many ways that farmers can add value to their produces such as processing, packaging, or design, simplifying method of use and branding.
“Bananas can be processed into different value-added products to enhance their shelf life and market value,” said the agency.
“Some of the value-added products include our, chewies, beer, sweets, chips, cereals. Banana our is made from green bananas,” said the trade development and promotion organisation.
Meanwhile, ZimTrade has called upon those who want to increase brand presence and visibility in the region to join the Zimbabwe Outward Seller Mission to Chimoio, Mozambique where they will engage with leading buyers within Mozambique.
During the Zimbabwe-Rwanda Trade and Investment Conference held in Harare in March, President Mnangagwa challenged industrialists to enhance value addition and diversify exports to help end Africa’s unsustainable reliance on primarily exporting raw materials much to the detriment of the continent’s growth prospects.
Value addition was also under focus during the recent Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) as espoused in the theme: “Rethink, Reimagine, Re-Invent Value Chains for Economic Development”.
The Government and all economic players view value addition as key towards attainment of Vision 2030 of becoming an upper middle-income economy.
— @SikhulekelaniM1
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