Small-scale farmers look to export markets
WALKING through rows of macadamia trees on her farm in eastern Zimbabwe, Shalet Mutasa proudly displays a set of soil-quality results showing the fields’ conditions are improving.
This will be her third harvest of the creamy white nuts after switching from less-profitable corn.
Mutasa, who is in her mid-50s and was allocated the previously white-owned land by the government, is targeting 20 metric tons of production. That is nearly double last year’s crop and a big jump from the half a ton she managed the first year.
“It will be third-time lucky,’’ she said. “We initially grew maize but later realised the crop wasn’t rewarding financially,” she said, using another name for corn.
The expansion of niche and export-oriented crops like macadamias and flower seeds may signal the sustained return of Zimbabwean farm products to international markets after a 16-year hiatus caused by the turmoil of the government’s land reform programme.
In western Zimbabwe, Netsai Sibanda oversees almost 20 workers harvesting marigolds on her three-hectare farm. Sibanda, who also switched from a more traditional crop – in this case cotton – grows the flowers to extract seeds that she sells to a Dutch distributor which ships them all over the world.
Sibanda and her fellow growers in Gokwe are expected to produce as much as six tons of flower seeds, according to Charlene Mathonsi, a co-ordinator for Lion Farm, which contracts the farmers. The crop is more attractive than cotton because prices are agreed upfront, Sibanda said.
“When they saw what we were paid, others wanted to grow flowers,’’ she said.
Moses Mabvuu, a 66-year-old pensioner, planted 750 macadamia trees on his three-hectare farm in 2014 and plans to add another 100 trees next year.
“It’s almost goodbye for growing maize,’’ Mabvuu said. – Bloomberg