Arda grows veggies for Vic Falls market

PLAYERS in the hospitality industry are set to stop importing perishable vegetables if efforts by the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) to ramp up local production succeed.

ARDA board chair Mr Basil Nyabadza said they had started growing 18 types of vegetables at ARDA Jotsholo in Lupane with the aim of supplying the hospitality industry, especially in Victoria Falls.

Matabeleland North province is predominantly a tourism area with Hwange and Victoria Falls forming the nucleus.

However, there have been concerns that the hotel sector prefers to procure vegetables from outside the country at the expense of local producers. According to Mr Nyabadza, the hotel industry in the province requires 41 vegetable types.

“ARDA Jotsholo is now growing 18 vegetable types out of 41 needed in Victoria Falls. This region is important because it is a global destination for tourism hence we have to work hard and make sure all of these vegetables are produced locally,” said Mr Nyabadza.

He was speaking at the Matabeleland North Devolution Conference in Lupane recently. Mr Nyabadza challenged Zimbabweans to value add resources in their respective areas to help resuscitate the economy.

Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) chairman for Victoria Falls chapter, Mr Farai Chimba, who is also general manager for Victoria Falls Hotel, said the industry welcomes the development. He however, encouraged farmers to familiarise with the industry to avoid making losses by supplying wrong products.

“This will be a good initiative because as hotels all we want is quality products at the right price. So if some of the products are available locally then it’s good for business.

“However, we assume they did a research on this because there are a lot of dynamics involved,” he said.

Mr Chimba said while hotels used mostly imported fresh foods, they do not directly import the goods as that is done by fresh farm food distributors.

“Our biggest challenge is that some of the exotic goods are not readily available locally and we have to get them from elsewhere. Farmers have to work with distributors because they import and hotels procure from them. 

 “So, whoever decides to grow vegetables with the intention of supplying hotels should be in constant touch with the industry because there are dynamics involved based on seasons and types of vegetables,” he added.

Most farm products consumed both by industry and residents in Victoria Falls are sourced mainly in Jotsholo, Umguza, Bulawayo, Chegutu and Harare among others. Some are imported from Botswana, South Africa and Zambia. This is because there are no farms in the resort town.—@ncubeleon