BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

The three organisations are Eosta BV, a European market leader in the trade of organic fruits and vegetables, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency and Topsector.

“The main objective of the project is to assist farmers who are producing the Queen Victoria variety of pineapples to attain organic certification which will enable them to access the niche market in the European Union (EU),” ZimTrade, the country’s export promotion body, said in its newsletter.

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency will provide the funding for farmers to get their products certified while Eosta BV will be the leading buyer of the pineapples, with ZimTrade and MadeTop as the local partners.

The project will initially start with 48 farmers from Chipinge who have already been identified.

The EU is the largest and fastest growing market for fresh pineapples accounting for 46% of the world’s total consumption of the product.

According to Trade Map, total consumption of pineapples by the EU stood at 1,3 million tonnes in 2016, which presents great potential for pineapple growers in Zimbabwe.

Within the EU, the Netherlands is the leading consumer, with a 21% market share in 2016.

This market, which has grown by 12% in the last five years, from $210 million in 2012 to $235 million in 2016, has developed rapidly, ZimTrade said.

Government has reduced the number of products that require export licences as it forges ahead to improve the ease of doing export business.

The reduction was done through Statutory Instrument 122 of 2017, which was published on September 22, 2017.