HARARE - A Food Agricultural Organisation Representative said Zimbabwes small holder farmers should look for alternative ways of generating income to supplement their earnings. FAO Assistant Country Representative for Zimbabwe, David Mfote, told the first Processed Products Fair held recently at the Harare Show Grounds that while farming may provide at least part of a familys needs for food, they also needed cash to cover other expenses like school fees and medical costs.
Alternative or additional income generating opportunities are therefore needed to support the thousands of poor families who can no longer support their livelihoods from the land alone. The problem they all face is that opportunities for off-farm employment in rural areas are limited, he said.
The fair was organised by the Zimbabwe Adding Value to Sustainable Agriculture Produce (ZAVSAP), a network of nine Zimbabwean Non-Governmental Organisations in existence since April 2008 and funded by the Belgian Government.
Mfote said agro-processing and small enterprises, or adding value to primary agricultural produce and selling processed products offered many opportunities. It increased productivity and crop diversification, nutritional value of the diets of farming families, generation of extra income and the stimulation of the local economy.
He said the overall potential of agro-processing was huge. It can reduce wastage, enhance food security, improve livelihoods for low-income groups and empower women.
He however, said entrepreneurs faced many challenges. Their products did not meet quality and quantity requirements, storage facilities and other infrastructure were substandard, shady middlemen also dominated the market and exploited them. In addition, farmers did not have processing equipment, they did not understand the demands of their customers, and they lacked access to finance, advice and market information. On the local market, Zimbabwean farmers also had to compete with often cheaper products imported from neighbouring countries as well as Europe.
Since inception, ZAVSAP has mainly focussed on processing. Training and exchange visits for staff and lead farmers were organised in sweet potato, cassava, herbs, tomato , wild fruits, cowpea and soybean processing as well as in the uses and processing of Jatropha and Moringa, bee keeping and honey processing among others.
ZAVSAP feels NGO staff and farmers have become experts in value-addition, hence this first “Processed Products” fair.
The most common food products exhibited included dried fruits, vegetables and herbs, peanut butter, cooking oil, honey, sweet potato juice and jam, cowpea meatballs, sorghum bread, vegetable and fruit chutneys.
ZAVSAP had been trying to promote more traditional and better suited crops which had been shunned by farmers (like small grains, sweet potato, cassava and legumes).
This event offers a unique opportunity for the public to learn more about the creativity and diverse cultural influences of smallholder farmers who work the land and produce a whole range of processed products, said Caroline Jacquet, the fair co-ordinator. The public will also have the opportunity to buy the products and help improve the income and livelihoods of our rural people.
A total of 90 smallholder farmers from UMP, Mutoko, Mudzi, Muzarabani, Chiweshe, Mbire, Goromonzi, Chinamhora and many other places in the Mashonaland East, Central and West Provinces participated at the fair that will become a yearly event.
Over the past two years, the network has trained more than 633 smallholder farmers.
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