The council last week inserted adverts in the local media warning potato vendors of the impending crackdown. Fearing loss of their potatoes, Bulawayo dealers have stopped importing the product from South Africa.
“I will stop selling on the market because last time my potatoes were all confiscated by the council officials. I just want to clear the batch I recently imported,” said Stephen Moyo, a potato dealer.
He said local potatoes were too expensive and farmers were failing to meet demand and this had forced many dealers to import from South Africa. A bag of imported potatoes costs $9 while locally grown ones sell at $15.
“I do not think banning is the solution. Our own local potatoes should be affordable. The last time the government banned chicken imports there was an outcry because local chicken producers could not meet demand. The same thing is now happening,” said Loice Ngwenya, another dealer.
The immediate past President of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union, Donald Khumalo, defended the government ban on agricultural imports. “The problem with some of these imports is that we do not know if they are genetically modified or not. Imports from South Africa are killing our economy,” he said. Khumalo urged the government to put in place an environment conducive to the for growth of production in the agriculture sector.
Post published in: Agriculture
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