Tea producers appeal for loans, input support

Tea producers in Manicaland have said they are facing challenges in acquiring inputs, a development they believe might contribute to a lower output this season. Zimbabwe Farmers Union (tea commodity) provincial chairman Mr Charles Sanhanga said farmers in the Honde Valley Tea Growers Association needed a loan facility to ensure that they had enough fertilisers to maintain production.

“We have challenges of inputs and as we speak we have not acquired any fertilisers,” he said.

“We sell our tea to Eastern Highlands Plantations and we had requested that they give us fertilisers on loan which the company will recover when we sell our produce, but this has not yet been approved.”

Mr Sanhanga said production during peak season (November to April) usually averages 200 000kg per month.

The figures drop significantly between May and October, when farmers will be pruning the crop.

Total production in 2018 stood at 1,8 million kilogrammes, the same as 2017.

“This year’s figures have already been affected because we received rains late and peak season was delayed,” said Mr Sanhanga.

“We only started having a good crop late in December.”

The Manicaland chapter of the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union (ZFU) has been working on a project to link tea producers in the Eastern Highlands with banks and input suppliers.

The initiative has stalled due to the increase of prices starting in October last year.

ZFU’s Manicaland provincial manager Mr Daniel Mungazi said the organisation was working with about 900 farmers in the Honde Valley Tea Growers Association.

“We had engaged Metbank to link with the farmers and fund their production,” he said.

“The next stop was to get a conclusive report on how much each farmer needs to produce. Farmers managed to open accounts with the bank and are now accessing their money from the bank’s mobile units in their communities instead of travelling to Mutare.”