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Edgar Vhera
Agriculture Specialist Writer
EXPORT earnings from deciduous and other fruits rose 184 percent from US$1 million in the first quarter of 2023 to US$2 million in the corresponding period this year, as shipments in value added products dominate.
First quarter statistics released by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats) recently show that fruit export earnings increased from US$626 227 in 2023 to US$1 780 006 this year.
In volume terms it rose from 1 726 957kg to 3 721 279kg.
The deciduous fruit section has fresh or dried bananas, guavas, mangoes and mangosteens. Exports from this sub-sector increased 81 percent in volume terms from 831 430 to 1 500 800kgwhile in value terms it surged 108 percent from US$95 999 to US$199 550.
The other fruit section consists of fresh apples, peaches, including nectarines, plums and sloes. It also has prepared or preserved pine apples, apricots, other mixtures, other single fruit and other unfermented apple juices, other juice of single fruit or vegetable, unfermented mixtures of juices.
Exports from this section surged 148 percent from 895 527 to 2 220 479kg while in value terms it rose 198 percent from US$530 229 to US$1 580 456.
The increase in export earnings was chiefly attributed to expansion of valued added products. Other juices from single fruits or vegetables rose 113 percent in volume while in value terms they rose 194 percent. The same trend was exhibited in mixtures of unfermented juices not containing added spirit, which surged a whopping 695 percent in volume terms while in value it rose 381 percent.
The country’s horticulture promotion body, Horticultural Development Council (HDC) said Zimbabwe’s fruit exports continued to show resilience, despite pressures in the global and domestic markets.
HDC chief executive officer, Mrs Linda Nielsen said that demonstrated the horticulture industry’s strong potential for further growth.
“As you are aware, HDC is actively supporting the national vision to grow horticulture to a US$1 billion industry by 2030. Achieving this requires a joint effort by all stakeholders to grow volumes across the sector, through working towards a policy environment that builds investor confidence,” she said.
As HDC, we are playing our role in boosting production by increasing the number of growers, she added.
In its endeavour to grow the horticulture sector, the HDC has come up with many initiatives such as the ‘Hub and Spoke’ model, which links key players in the value chain to emerging growers, thus ensuring shared and inclusive growth in the industry.
The horticulture hub has the packhouse/aggregation centre/processor in the middle surrounded by spokes.
The spokes, which are linked to the hub has farmers practising sustainable agriculture production, organisations providing extension services, capacity building/training, technology, finance, micro industries and compliance.
At the second edition of the horticulture investment forum last year in Harare, the HDC said it required
US$1, 2 billion investments to achieve a US$1 billion annual horticulture sector by 2030 and create 150 000 jobs. It said the sector had to grow 30 percent annually to reach the target.
The fresh and processed produce section requires an investment of US$350 million to have an annual value output of around US$510 million.
Online Reporter