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Ashton Mutyavaviri
GOVERNMENT has urged all stakeholders in agriculture to invest more in value addition for both crop and livestock value chains to boost the overall performance of the farming sector.
Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development permanent secretary Professor Obert Jiri recently said investing in value addition across all agriculture sub-sectors had the potential to yield positive outcomes.
He said the Ministry would spearhead the implementation of such initiatives, working closely with farmers, cooperatives and other stakeholders to ensure the successful adoption and integration of value chains across the country.
Agricultural and Rural Development Authority chairperson Mr Ivan Craig said value addition was a more effective and efficient way of curbing post-harvest losses mostly experienced especially by smallholder farmers.
“Post-harvest losses are one of the biggest challenges farmers face in Zimbabwe and this includes the food losses across the food supply chain from harvesting the crop until its consumption.
“Perishables for horticulture, for instance, need a cold chain to avoid losses,” he said, adding that farmers needed to invest in small value-addition plants in their areas.
The value addition plants are reversing the economic stagnation of many rural areas, reducing rural unemployment, helping rural areas capture a larger share of the national income and creating new sources of the rural competitive advantage for the future, said Mr Craig.
There is need to leverage technology as another way of dealing with post-harvest losses, he observed.
Mr Craig said the implementation of smart farming solutions, with access to information could help farmers not only in Zimbabwe but across the region to maximise on their production.
Zimbabwe has to continue firmly on this path to promote rural enterprises and create employment, prevent rural poverty, improve farmer earnings and livelihoods, promote self-reliance and reduce need for social support.
Government is on record urging communities to take advantage of the abundant natural resources in their localities to improve their livelihoods in line with the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1).
Meanwhile, the commissioned National Biotechnology Authority Mapfura Value Addition Plant in Mwenezi has started buying fruits from local people at US$5 per a 50-kilogramme bag.
The factory has the capacity to produce 75 000 litres of concentrated mapfura juice per month, which translates to 900 000 litres per annum. Globally, about 33,3 percent, an estimated 1,3 billion tonnes of food equivalent to $1 billion, are lost in post-harvest processes annually according to the World Bank. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates post-harvest losses in Africa at about 37 percent of the total output.
At country level, post- harvest losses, estimated at 20 to 30 percent in storage alone, can rise to as high as 40 percent when including field, transportation, handling and processing losses.
Many small-scale farmers do not have access to cold storage facilities, leading to spoilage of perishable produce like fruits and vegetables.
Poor transport systems also contribute to losses, as produce often gets damaged during long journeys to markets or processing facilities.
Value addition continues to take centre stage across all the priority value chains requiring rapid infrastructure acquisition.
Online Reporter