High export potential in garlic
Number of smallholder farmers endowed with the potential to export has been growing exponentially over the past few years.
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There is increasing interest in the export market among smallholder farmers, indicating that they have the potential to contribute more to national exports.
What is crucial now is identifying the specific and relatively high-value crops smallholder farmers can produce on a commercial scale.
Garlic is one of those crops. Garlic is easy to grow compared to other high-value crops and can be produced in most parts of the country.
What is important now is for farmers to organise themselves into groups in order to combine their capacities when approaching buyers.
Capacity development is a key area identified under the National Export Strategy, launched by President Mnangagwa in 2019, in the horticulture sector.
Capacitating farmers will improve their production capacity, and in turn contribute towards achieving Vision 2030, particularly improving household income levels.
Why garlic matters
There is growing demand for healthy foods worldwide on account of the pandemic and the increasing incidence of chronic diseases.
Consumers the world over are looking for foods that are perceived to have immune boosting properties, which is driving demand for garlic.
Garlic’s ability to help fight infections as an antibiotic are well documented.
It is used to fight an array of bacteria and fungi infections.
These properties make garlic a highly sought-after product, particularly by those looking to increase consumption of healthy foods.
Zimbabwean farmers can target regional and international markets, riding on our favourable climatic conditions which favour garlic production.
Apart from exporting garlic as raw bulbs, there are opportunities to value-add and produce products such as garlic powder or mix it with salt to produce garlic salt or garlic oil, which some of our SMEs are already exporting to Botswana.
Pickled garlic, garlic sauce, garlic vinegar, and garlic insecticides are other value-added products that local farmers can consider.
A look at the markets
The global garlic import bill has grown over the last 20 years from around US$500 million in 2001 to US$3,03 billion in 2020, according to Trade Map.
Top importers of garlic globally last year were Indonesia (US$586 million), Brazil (US$275 million), United States of America (US$235 million), Malaysia (US$116 million), Germany (US$105 million), Pakistan (US$102 million), and Russia (US$90 million).
The other top importers were France, United Kingdom, Italy, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Canada, and Japan.
In 2019, about 2,41 million tonnes of garlic were imported.
According to Trade Map figures, Zimbabwe has imported insignificant quantities of garlic of over the past few years.
However, the country has massive potential to supply and even dominate regional and international markets.
Local farmers have a shot at making inroads into markets that already take Zimbabwean produce, which could provide a springboard for exporting garlic.
These markets include Indonesia, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates.
Top African importers of garlic last year were Morocco (US$17,39 million), Tunisia (US$15,81 million), Egypt (US$10 million), Nigeria (US$9,73 million), and South Africa (US$9,09 million.
South Africa is currently importing the bulk of its garlic from as far as Spain, Vietnam, Italy, Egypt, and China.
Considering the distance between South Africa and Zimbabwe, local farmers can take over the market if they meet the market’s requirements.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) imports almost all its garlic from China.
Apart from these two markets, other regional markets that could be a starting point for local farmers, riding on proximity and leveraging on existing bilateral and multi-lateral agreements to export duty and/or quota free, are Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Angola.
Understanding garlic production
The main garlic varieties grown in southern Africa are hard neck varieties (allium sativum) and soft neck varieties (sativum var sativum).
They take between 4-9 months to mature.
While the gestation period for producing garlic may appear longer compared to other produce such as peas, maize and wheat, the production, harvesting and handling processes of garlic are not complicated.
In addition, most garlic varieties have a longer shelf life, meaning farmers can hold onto the product when market prices are unfavourable.
Hard neck varieties are more winter-hardy and produce larger cloves but have a shorter storage life compared to soft-neck varieties.
For local producers, alternating between the two varieties will help with full utilisation of land throughout the year and positively impact on earnings.
According to the Horticulture Trainers Manual produced by SNV, garlic is frosthardy, requires well drained soils and the best period to transplant the crop is August-April (Highveld) and January-May (Lowveld).
The seed rate is 315–500 cloves per hectare, with yields of 8-10 tonnes/hectare.
Currently, international prices are averaging US$4,21 per kilogramme from August, according to the International Trade Centre’s Market Price Information portal.
Garlic also responds well to organic manure, a boon for smallholder farmers who are into animal husbandry.
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