MUTARE Flower growers in Manicaland province are planning to set up a liaison council to promote the horticulture industry in the province, a top official said last week. Stan Collymore, the provincial director of the Horticultural Promotion Council (HPC) in Manicaland, said the council would bring together growers, the financial services sector, the government and other stakeholders working to develop the industry that is one of the major employers in Zimbabwes eastern province.
We are working on a horticultural liaison council where we are trying to bring together all stakeholders to try and see how we can promote horticulture, Collymore said. While the HPC was formed primarily to represent the interests of horticultural producers, the liaison council will look at ways of increasing production in the sector.
Collymore said other flower growers on the continent such as Kenya and Ghana have similar councils that help coordinate the efforts of farmers and other players to improve the flower growing industry.
Meanwhile, Collymore said while the governments controversial land reform programme had created many more smallholder growers production had dropped because the new farmers lacked required skills and resources.
Production levels have dipped in the last nine years as most new farmers lacked the expertise and the huge financial resources required in the sector, he said. According to Collymore, export earnings have declined from US$142. 7 million in 1999 to an average US$50 million per-year over the past five years.
Post published in: Economy