The ManicaPost
Luthando Mapepa
Chipinge Correspondent
THE country’s exports promotion board, Zimtrade, has partnered macadamia farmers in Chipinge to open new markets across the globe.
The development comes at a time when hundreds of macadamia nuts farmers are being fleeced by middlemen who charge low prices for their nuts.
Chipinge has over 500 registered macadamia farmers who produce 10000-metric tonnes of the nuts, popularly known as the green diamonds of Chipinge per season.
ZimTrade said they have secured a Chinese market for macadamia nuts.
ZimTrade Eastern Region development officer, Mr Admire Jongwe, said Chipinge is a Special Economic Zone with a potential to generate the much-needed foreign currency.
“ZimTrade is a department operating under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and we have identified the Eastern Highlands as an economic zone. Products produced in this area are on demand across the globe and our organisation’s mandate is to create a healthy trade relationship with developed countries.
“As ZimTrade, we want to cut the red tape in trade and link the producer with the final consumer. We are trying by all means to increase the quality of the products they are producing. This will give them improved competitiveness when their product enters the export market,” he said.
There is high demand for macadamia nuts in China.
“We are working with various players to ensure that Zimbabwe and China come up with a free trade agreement which will allow Zimbabwean products to penetrate the Chinese market without being levied trade tariffs. This will increase their competitiveness,” said Mr Jongwe.
An interviewed farmer, Mr James Maisiri, said they are grappling with a number of challenges in their ventures, chief among them being low quality crops.
“The quality of some of the macadamia nuts being produced here is quiet low, resulting in less rewards for farmers. Besides the low quality of the nuts, the Covid-19 travel restrictions will also have a negative impact on our returns during the marketing season.
“Already some of the buyers are offering low prices to the early harvested crop citing decline in demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We have realised that some of these unscrupulous buyers want to rip us off using the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse. That is the reason why we are calling for direct linkages with foreign markets and main buyers,” said Mr Maisiri.
