Lovemore Kadzura
Post Reporter
IT is a dawn of a new era for farmers in Honde Valley in Mutasa District following the construction of a banana processing plant.
The super structure has been completed, and now awaiting the delivery of machinery, in a move that will permanently change the face of the area, while addressing key facets of life such as economic and social issues.
For years, horticulture farmers had accepted to live with the untenable situation of getting less for their hard work, while middlemen enjoy the fruits of their sweat.
It was never imaginable that the farmers will one day escape the jaws of exploitation by the well-resourced middlemen and companies who would just impose prices on farmers’ produce.
Farmers were left with no option, but to accept the ridiculous low prices offered by middlemen as they had no alternative ways of marketing their produce.
Middlemen manipulated the farmers, taking advantage of the horticulture produce, most of which are perishables, leaving farmers with no way out, but to surrender their produce at ridiculously low prices.
However, this will be a thing of the past for Honde Valley banana farmers as Government in partnership with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) stepped in to construct a state-of-the-art banana processing plant just outside Hauna Growth Point.
The development has been hailed as a positive move in emancipating small-scale farmers, while promoting rural industrialisation agenda, and advancing value addition and beneficiation.
The plant which will be run under a cooperative system will directly benefit 2 376 farmers, with the majority being women and youths.
The factory will also employ a number of locals, thereby feeding numbers into the national employment statistics.
Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Advocate Misheck Mugadza last Friday toured the plant, and said Government is working tirelessly to uplift the lives of citizens, and such investments will improve the economic wellbeing of small-scale farmers as they will get more income from their value added products.
“This plant is a result of President Mnangagwa’s vision of improving every citizen’s lifestyles. The people of Honde Valley are well-known for producing the best bananas and other horticultural products at impressive rates. Government now want to change how they have been operating all along by setting up this plant for value addition and beneficiation of bananas.
“This plant is a testimony of the good working relationship between Government and development partners. We are now waiting for the installation of the machinery and commissioning of the plant. This factory will be run through the cooperative system that will incorporate a lot of farmers.
“Farmers were losing a lot of bananas while being transported to various markets, but this will be a thing of the past. The plant will produce banana flour, chips and oil extracted from banana peels.
“The Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development is leading this process. There will be a massive improvement in the quality of life for the people in this area as they will get more value from their produce. Bananas will be purchased at better prices, compared to the current ones.
“The factory is also part of the rural industrialisation trajectory being pushed by Government. This is a rural set-up that will host the state-of-the-art processing plant, and they will be many more other plants of this magnitude in Manicaland.
“All our products such as apples, macadamia, avocados, guavas, peaches and so on must be processed locally for communities to fully benefit. We are happy with the progress we have witnessed here, and we are expecting the machine to be installed by the end of October. Processing will commence in November,” said Minister Mugadza.
Mutasa North Member of National Assembly, Cde Obey Bvute said the wishes of Honde Valley people have been finally granted, and said the plant is sign of more positives things to happen to farmers.
“We would like to thank Government and its partners for coming to the rescue of the farmers. This is a huge investment in a rural set-up. For long, farmers have been on the receiving end of middlemen, but a solution has been availed for them,” said Honourable Bvute.
Mrs Midhiya Mutamangira of Radzokota Cooperative said the construction of the plant will help to eliminate middlemen and increase their earnings.
“We are currently supplying our bananas to middlemen who transport them to various destinations across the country for resale. The coming in of the processing plant will help us to have improved earnings, and have a closer market for our produce. The middlemen grade our bananas, and only buy big ones, but this plant will buy all the bananas, no matter the size. This means will have more money coming our way,” she said.
Mrs Cathrine Sanyanga of Ruda Cooperative said travelling and staying away from home for days was creating social issues for farmers, and the coming in of the factory will help to address issues such as child marriages and spreading of sexually transmitted diseases.
“The processing plant will help us as women to make a break even, and register meaningful profits in our operations. Middlemen were imposing prices on our bananas, leaving us with minimum returns for our investments. We were being forced by circumstances to accept the low prices. Middlemen would take advantage of our lack of transport to ferry the produce to markets to exploit us.
“Some farmers would take the produce to different markets, thereby spending days and weeks away from home. This created a lot of problems in families, such as leaving children unattended and rising cases of gender based violence.
“Some farmers end up losing their lives in road traffic accidents on their way to or from the markets as most of the trucks used to ferry bananas are not roadworthy. They travel at night to avoid police roadblocks, and farmers will be loaded in the same trucks with their produce.
“The coming in of the processing plant will address the farmers’ plight. The market is now at our doorstep, and there is every reason for us to celebrate. There will be competition between the factory and middlemen which naturally should benefit us the producers,” said Mrs Sanyanga.
