Mutoko processing plant eyes export markets
THIRTY-THREE-YEAR-OLD Ms Diana Tafirenyika is an accomplished okra farmer in Mutoko, Mashonaland East province.
Although she regularly had bountiful harvests, she often failed to find a market for her produce.
“To sell in Mbare, I would need about three days because sometimes I slept at the market for two nights to get the best prices. As a mother and a married woman, this was such an inconvenience. Transporters also charged us exorbitant fees,” she said.
Unscrupulous middlemen often made huge profits at her expense.
“Another challenge was that of makoronyera (unscrupulous middlemen). They would come to my farm and offer to buy the crop straight from the field.
“To avoid the time and expense of transporting it to Mbare, I often agreed to sell to them, just to get rid of the crop. However, they offered low prices, buying a kilogramme of okra for just US$3.”
However, since the Mutoko Fruit and Vegetable Processing Hub was opened in 2021, this is now a thing of the past.
In fact, she now gets more than three times what was offered by the middlemen.
“Last year, I sold the okra for an average price of US$10 per kg. I was happy with the prices and managed to buy myself a car. I also used the profits to reinvest into the farm.”
Ms Tafirenyika is also guaranteed rich pickings from her current two-hectare okra crop. “I encourage other farmers to grow okra because it is a cash crop. I have been in the trade for several years and I am now finding it easy to manage. What is most important is that I now have a ready market to sell to. The processing plant is just a few kilometres from our farm, and it has brought a lot of convenience for us.”
Many farmers from Mutoko feel equally relieved by the processing hub, which was launched by President Mnangagwa in 2021.
The plant also adds value to other horticultural produce such as carrots, peas and butternuts.
Mr Ordo Nyakudanga, another farmer from Tabudirira village in Mutoko, said: “Farmers from surrounding areas here in Tabudirira village can simply use scotch carts and wheelbarrows to get to the market. In the past, we used to get lots of losses due to high transport costs and delays in getting markets because tomatoes are a perishable crop.”
Farmers, he said, are now getting fair value for their tomatoes.
“In the past, we used to sell our tomatoes in buckets, but now, we can sell in kgs. This ensures that we get better value for our produce.”
Mutoko Ward 26 councillor Mr Brighton Muvirimi, who is also a farmer, said the processing plant has mostly benefitted youths.
“The biggest beneficiaries of this plant have been young people who are at several irrigation schemes in nearby communities. They have found a ready market for their produce,” he said.
Multiple benefits
The managing director of Mutoko Royal Fruits and Veggies, which runs the processing plant, Mr Lloyd Marime, said the plant also offers training to farmers to improve their operations.
“We get a lot of farmers from different areas. Our main clientele is from Mutoko. However, others come from Murewa, Macheke, Uzumba and Marondera,” he said.
“So far, we have trained more than 350 farmers. Due to our training programmes, farmers are getting value from their crops. The courses are on business management, which helps them to run their farms profitably; crop production, which focuses on maximising land use; crop protection, which helps them to combat crop disease; and ICT (information and communication technology), which touches on using digital platforms in banking and marketing.
“We also offer courses for post-harvest management, handling, grading and packaging.”
Export potential
Mr Marime said they have been working with farmers to focus on niche crops that can be processed at the plant for export markets.
Some of these niche crops are okra, peas, chillies and watermelons.
“Rock lemons grow well in Mutoko. This is a watermelon variety that is very popular in countries such as Dubai, where there is huge demand,” he said.
“We also process peas and make them ready for export by producing sugar snaps. Chillies can also be processed at this plant to make them ready for export. Okra is a crop that is rich in ingredients and is in demand around the world. We are building the numbers for all these crops in preparation for the export market. This is why we are working with ZimTrade and other partners.”
Challenges
Occasional payment delays, as well as the need to constantly upgrade equipment at the plant, are some of the challenges for the business.
The road leading to the facility also needs rehabilitation.