Zim urged to develop strategies for horticulture

ZIMBABWE should develop strategies to foster growth of the horticulture sector for it to retain its position as the country’s second largest foreign currency earner after tobacco.

Speaking at Prime SeedCo field day held at Stapleford Research Station yesterday, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Ringson Chitsiko, said horticulture farmers must buckle down and restore the sector’s glory as Zimbabwe’s second largest foreign currency earner.

“We are here to put our thoughts together and work towards returning the horticulture sector to its original second place after tobacco in respect to agricultural exports, even beyond tobacco and be number one agricultural exporting subsector in Zimbabwe,” Engineer Chitsiko said.

Engineer Chitsiko lauded Prime SeedCo for their ever-growing expertise in developing seed varieties that are critical for the growth of the horticulture sector.

“I would like to thank Prime SeedCo for its ever continuing efforts in screening, demonstrating and extending the technologies in horticulture production,” he said.

Engineer Chitsiko highlighted the need to intensify production in this sector to curb the importation of horticulture seeds from Europe, Asia as well as Southern African countries such as South Africa and Zambia.

“This is a sector that we do not only want to revive and expand but we also want to intensify because it has great returns.

“It’s now time we start producing horticulture planting material particularly in respect to vegetable seed production , we are currently importing from far field as Europe and Asia, South Africa, Zambia as well, we want those countries to start looking up to us for horticultural seed,” said the Permanent Secretary.

Adding on to permanent secretary’s sentiments, Prime Seed Co managing director Willie Ranby said his company was targeting to expand its local market share from the current 45-50 percent at the same time growing the company into the continent.

“Prime Seed Co has a 45-50 percent local market share and we are working hard to grow that, now that Seed-Co has offices in Ghana we will be opening a vegetable subsidiary in Accra within the next six months,” said Mr Ranby.