Citrus fruits Potential game-changer for farmers

Fruits are currently in high demand the world over.

This is largely because of their perceived immune boosting benefits for those fighting Covid-19. They are relatively rich in Vitamin C.

In April, the Citrus Growers Association of Southern Africa ( CGA) reported that demand for lemons from overseas markets doubled compared with the same period in 2019 while the Zimbabwe Citrus Growers Association shipped large consignments of lemons to Russia and the Middle East.

CGA has been observing the Southern African citrus exports.

They forecast that this year’s soft citrus production will reach two million cartons with 1,2 million cartons already packed, surpassing the 700 000 cartons packed over the same period last year.

As demand has gone up, indications are that supply has been failing to meet required numbers, pushing the prices up over the past few months.

According to Global Trade Review, a carton of lemons was fetching between

US$ 50 and US$ 60 in the Middle East in April 2020 against the normal price range of US$ 15 to US$ 20 per carton.

According to the same publication, even in countries where certain types of citrus such as grapefruit were not widely consumed, shoppers are now buying“anything that looks like an orange or a lemon”.

Globally, the citrus market is worth over

US$ 15,1 billion, according to TradeMap.

The biggest markets in the world include United States of America constituting 9 percent of global imports, Russia, Germany and Netherlands at 8 percent each, France (7 percent), United Kingdom (5 percent), China (4 percent) and Canada (3 percent).

China imports over one million tonnes of citrus products worth about US$ 594 million. There is scope for Zimbabwean citrus producers to supply the Chinese market.

To fully take advantage of the Chinese market, Government is finalising a protocol on citrus, which will allow Zimbabwe direct access and entry into the Chinese market.

The good thing about Zimbabwe taping into the Chinese market is that it will ease over-reliance on the European market, allowing the country to diversify and hedge against price volatility.

Under this protocol, Zimbabwean citrus fruits exported to China, including orange, mandarin, lemon, grapefruit, limes, tangelo and grapefruit, shall comply with the relevant phytosanitary laws, regulations and health and safety standards of China, and satisfy requirements as stipulated in the protocol.

The notable pests that are highlighted by the Chinese as being problematic include Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitate), Natal fruit fly (Ceratitis rosa), False Codling Moth (Thaumatitibia leucotreta), Bunch mite (Brevipalpus californicus) and Oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis).

The Chinese also highlight that citrus exports should be free from Leaf spot (Phaeoramularia angolensis) and African greening disease (Candidatus liberobacter africanum).

With the protocol at an advanced stage of development, there are opportunities for local farmers to tap into the lucrative markets and earn foreign currency, especially now when prices are still high.

Figures over the past few years indicate that local farmers have potential to increase supply.

Exports of citrus products by Zimbabwe have been increasing by around four percent in the last exporting years (2015-2019).

According to Trade Map, Zimbabwe exported 49 358 tonnes of citrus in 2019, predominantly made up of valencia oranges that make the biggest portion of the citrus export market followed by navel oranges, lemons, soft citrus and grapefruits.

At peak Zimbabwe put approximately 10 000 hectares under citrus. Currently it has about 3000 hectares under export citrus production.

To increase the total area under the crop, which will make it easy to increase exports, there is a need for new players to enter and take part in the production of this high value crop.

This entrance by new players will require all stakeholders, particularly farmers, to adopt a commodity approach where established players support the entire value chain with technical, business and agronomic skills.

Setting up and developing youth led farms and businesses will also ensure that the industry stays ahead of the curve. Setting up of new plantations requires three-year establishment costs and as such, there is a need to attract funding and investment into the establishment of new orchards.

Citrus fruits require sub-tropical conditions to optimally grow, thriving in wet warm temperatures and are intolerant to frost.

They can withstand temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius. In Zimbabwe citrus fruits are commercially grown in areas which include Beitbridge, Mazowe Valley, Chegutu, Headlands and Chipinge.

Unlike in the aforementioned places, citrus fruits in Rusitu Valley are grown by communal farmers on backyard orchards.

To increase the national throughput of the commodity, there is a need to open new orchards and small-scale farmers can devote a piece of land for citrus production and complement their existing cop production.

These smallholder farmers must cluster around an off-taker that will consolidate produce for export marketing.

Areas like Honde Valley, Chiredzi, Chegutu, Mwenezi, Mazowe Valley and Rusitu Valley can be mobilised to produce small portions of land under citrus which can then be exported.

Currently, the biggest hindrance to citrus production is access to seedlings as potential producers must wait for 15 to 18 months to access seedlings.

Some local farmers are having to source their planting materials from South Africa as local supply cannot meet demand. In Zimbabwe, we have one company accredited with the Citrus Research Institute to produce planting material.

To increase nursery production to meet the national requirements, Zimbabwe should establish more nurseries and capacitate existing ones such as the Chiredzi Research Institute.

The major economic value of oranges lies in their fruits and juice concentrates, but several fragrant oils can be extracted from their flowers or from their peel as a by-product of the orange-juice industry.

These essences can be used to manufacture fragrances used in the manufacturing of perfumes and to scent many household products, such as liquid detergents, shampoos and soaps with aromatic oils extracted from citrus products.

Other commercial value-added products from citrus fruits include citric acid, marmalade/sweet spreads.

ZimTrade, the national trade development and promotion organisation, continues to engage the Netherlands-based PUM experts in the horticulture sector to improve the sector’s competitive edge through increased throughput, efficiency, effectiveness and quality.

THE Bill’s proposals are not based on strong foundations of empirical evidence and science but emotions mainly advocated by animal rights activists. Needless to mention that hunting in Zimbabwe generates revenue for protection and conservation of wildlife resources, and draws community participation in the fight against poaching through such initiatives as the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE).

Hunting benefits at least one million households countrywide through employment creation, construction of roads, clinics and schools.

It is important to note that hunting also helps in the well-co-ordinated faunal species population control method, a consumptive form of tourism with a chain of goods and services twinned together.

It is also a method of managing Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC).

Hunting is a part of Zimbabwean cultural beliefs dating back thousands of years. These indigenous traditional knowledge systems of conservation played a crucial role in the preservation of flora and fauna.

The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) through the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Act (Chapter 20:14) of 1975 is mandated to protect, preserve and conserve the country’s flora and fauna, both terrestrial and aquatic under gazetted national parks, safari areas, sanctuaries, recreational areas, botanic gardens and reserves.

This includes flora and fauna on private and communal properties.

ZimParks director-general Mr Fulton Mangwanya and his team are mandated to ensure the organisation funds and fends for its day-to-day operations.

This is so because ZimParks was weaned from the national fiscus a couple of years ago.

Government has other competing needs such as education and health.

Some of the non-profit making operations manifest in the Conservation of Wildlife Resources and Protection of Wildlife Resources, which are enshrined in the authority’s five-year strategic plan (2019-2023).

In this regard even though the organisation has revenue from leases, rentals, tourism receipts (both local and international), service provision and conservation partners, the most significant revenue line for financing resource protection and conservation comes from hunting.

It is mostly international hunts that sustain the authority. But this year’s hunting season is a write-off.

The sailing through and subsequent adoption of this proposed Bill into an Act is a nightmare for the country’s conservation efforts.

The authority needs money for vehicle purchase, maintenance, fuel for ranger deployments, patrol rations, swift reaction to HWCs, patrol gear (tents, sleeping bags, uniforms, boots, ammunition, chest webbings, water bottles), daily ranger patrol allowances, salaries, conducting community awareness campaigns, research and monitoring activities, road/fireguard maintenance, firefighting, tick and disease surveillance, routine aerial surveys, alien invasive species control and administrative costs, among other needs.

This year alone, the authority received at least 1 000 distress calls from communities and only managed to respond to slightly more than 50 percent due to lack of resources.

Consequently, 45 people lost their lives and dozens were injured.

Hunting in Zimbabwe is one of the ways of suppressing rocketing animal populations.

The hunting is managed professionally by the wildlife management authority.

The growing animal population in the country is not an accident, it is a result of good management practices and it is important that such good work is supported not only for the benefit of the country but for the benefit of the entire global family.

Trade in live species regionally and internationally has been a viable option to control animal numbers but has now been thwarted by other global Western countries.

Culling, though still legal, has been practically banned. It was last conducted in 1988 as a way to reduce animal populations, mainly elephants.

However, local capture and translocation is another extremely expensive exercise. This is a rare practice often carried out with assistance from conservation partners.

In 2018, a herd of 100 elephants was translocated from the South-East Lowveld (Save Valley, Masvingo) to Rifa in Hurungwe (Mashonaland Central).

Some more elephants and plains game are yet to be translocated from Save Valley Conservancy to Mid Zambezi Valley and Mavuradonha.

Ecological feasibility assessments are underway to give scientific data on the merits and demerits of the project.

Wildlife activists pushing for this Bill lobbied against culling in the late 1980s, constrained chances in the trade in live animals, and now the trade in and importation of wildlife trophies into the US.

But it is clear that the Bill is based on anecdotal, baseless and misleading information.

Without doubt, Zimbabwe has a healthy population of elephants, lions, leopards, black and white rhinos, giraffes, hyenas, pangolins and baboons among other terrestrial and aquatic species.

Unfortunately, some of these species mentioned in SB1175 have either increasing or stable populations in the country and to a greater extent incomparable to most countries in the region and beyond.

Due to the ever-increasing populations of these animals, human-wildlife conflict cases have also been on the rise in Zimbabwe.

It is important to note that the proposed Bill will not solve any of the challenges that it seeks to address but instead will increase hostilities between vulnerable rural and some urban communities, and the animals.

Legal trade in live species and related specimens is not a major threat to fauna as compared to other more important factors such as the ever-increasing populations of wildlife, global warming and climate change, veld fires, human settlement encroachment and invasion of protected areas and habitat loss.

In fact, animals are now a danger unto themselves.

In 2019 alone, 200 elephants and dozens of other wildlife species succumbed to climate change and loss of habitat induced starvation mainly in Hwange National Park and Mana Pools National Park.

Many thanks to some conservation partners who chipped in with supplementary feed and provision of water for the animals.

However, from an ecological perspective, such drought occurrences and other catastrophes are natural population positive check mechanisms to bring any populations to ecologically sustainable levels.

So these trade bans are unnecessary, the rhino horn trade has been banned for more than 40 years yet its illegal trade has not stopped.

Instead, it has flourished.

It is downright arrogant for people in air-conditioned offices in Europe and the US to prescribe how we are going to look after our animals when there is overwhelming evidence that wild animals in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa as a whole, are in good hands judging by the rising populations of these animals.

There are over 84 000 elephants on Zimbabwe’s four elephant range regions namely North West Matabeleland, Sebungwe, Mid Zambezi Valley and South East Lowveld.

For the Hwange National Park landscape and surroundings, there are more than 45 000 elephants against an ecological carrying capacity of around 15 000.

With that environmental time bomb, imagine the escalating pressure of the keystone species on the geo-landscape and stress exerted on forage, water or habitat.

It is not only misleading but a blatant lie that legal hunting is contributing to a significant decline in wildlife, there is no evidence to that effect, in fact, hunting has resulted in the protection of wildlife in Zimbabwe and the region.

Over the years, ZimParks under the able leadership of Mr Mangwanya carried out many activities to safeguard wildlife. Ironically, the US has acknowledged these even though its law makers forge ahead with this Bill.

“Zimbabwe has carried out several actions at a national level and in collaboration with regional, local communities and interested partners on the ground that together demonstrate a clear interest in and concrete efforts towards establishing a better management regime and providing greater support for conservation efforts to enable elephant sport hunting that provides a clear benefit to the survival of African elephants in Zimbabwe,” reads part of the United States Fisheries statement in part.