Trade Focus –Allan Majuru

ZIMBABWE’s education is taking a paradigm shift, moving from theory to a deliberate focus on developing solutions that create value and contribute more to economic development.

As a result of the changes in curriculum, projections are that Zimbabwe will have more youth-led start-ups in the coming few years, anchored by their position as innovative entrepreneurs.

Already, young people are constantly asking for business ideas that do not require substantial funding requirements, are easy to manage and entail locally available resources.

One of the business that provides easy options for young people is dried fruits and this is an area that can act as a springboard for start-ups to penetrate international markets.

This is because resources required to produce dried fruits are locally available in abundance in some seasons.

Dried fruit, in general, refers to fruits whose original water content has been removed through natural processes such as sun-drying or through use of specialised dehydrators or dryers.

Over the past few years, the demand for dried fruits has gone up as more people are becoming health conscious and looking for products that are high in nutrients and low in calories.

According to a 2019 research by Sadler et al, “the content of nutrients in traditional dried fruits remains similar to the equivalent fresh fruit, though more concentrated.”

In international markets such as the European Union, Asia and the Middle East, demand has been driven up because dried fruits are a good source of micronutrients.

With improved production capacity, there are vast opportunities for local start-ups to explore, riding on the seasonal fruits that are normally produced in large quantities.

Dried fruits as a low hanging product

Zimbabwe has abundant fruit trees, and in some cases, these fruits go to waste during the peak season. In the face of the food shortages around the world, focus is on start-ups that solve everyday challenges and offer sustainable solutions to marginalised communities.

This is what financing and development partners are prepared to support.

Given the potential to increase production of dried fruits due to availability of raw materials, this can contribute significantly to sustainable livelihoods through creation of employment, community development and increased production for food security.

Increased production of export-quality dried fruits can contribute towards attainment of targets set under the Horticulture Recovery and Growth Plan launched last year by President Mnangagwa.

One of the objectives of the Plan is to improve the contribution of value-added agro-products to the national economy while also achieving import substitution and increasing foreign currency generation.

To achieve this, the Second Republic plans to provide incentives for value addition, enhance training on appropriate value addition technologies and facilitate export of value-added products.

Thus, youth-led start-ups can leverage on Government’s current drive on value-addition to produce more with ease.

Once production improves, local companies can leverage on export promotion services offered by ZimTrade-the national trade development and promotion organisation-to increase the visibility of locally produced dried fruits in regional and international markets.

Global consumption overview

The global trends are currently dictating that for a longer life, organic foods with high nutritional values should be consumed.

As a result, dried fruits such as apricots, prunes, apples, peaches, pears, papaws (papayas), and tamarinds attract good value in the international food industry.

According to Trade Map, the global import value of the above-mentioned products has grown from US$656 million in 2001 to US$2, 17 billion in 2019.

The top importers last year were Germany (US$199 million), United States of America (US$192 million), United Kingdom (US$182 million), China (US$174 million), France (US$101 million) and Netherlands (US$76 million).

The figure is higher if one considers other products such as dried bananas, dates, figs, pineapples, avocados, guavas, mangoes, mangosteens, citrus fruit and grapes.

Zimbabwe already enjoys favorable trading conditions with the aforementioned top importers, which makes it easy for local start-ups to export duty free or quota free.

For example, local start-ups can take advantage of the agreements signed between Zimbabwe–European Union (EU), and Zimbabwe–United Kingdom (UK), to export at favourable conditions, which makes locally produced dried fruits sell at competitive prices.

The basic approach used in these agreements for determining a qualifying product is that it must be wholly produced locally or at least have been substantially transformed locally.

Netherlands is currently the largest importer of Zimbabwean horticultural produce and local start-ups can utilise existing channels to introduce more dried fruits to the country.

Dried products usually have a longer shelf life and utilising sea freight to export dried fruits to international markets can help reduce cost and at the same time improve the competitiveness of these products.

Apart from these international markets, there are also opportunities to explore African markets, riding on the opening of markets by the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Africa’s import bill of dried fruits grew from US$29 million in 2011 to US$46 million in 2019.

Top importers in Africa last year were Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Morocco, and Namibia.

Due to proximity, South Africa and Namibia could offer easy markets for local producers who can take advantage of existing logistics routes.

Adopting dried fruits for export markets

As the market for dried fruits is growing, local start-ups need to produce more and secure markets early enough before competitors flood the market.

The starting point is utilising seasonal fruits that grow in abundance, such as mangoes, peaches, pineapples, and apples.

Areas such as Manicaland grow bananas in abundance and some smallholder farmers have reported that they throw away produce when markets are flooded.

Youth-led start-ups can therefore utilise fruits in season to minimise post-harvest loses and ensure they derive optimal value.

As businesses develop, there will be a need to consider increasing farm production of fruits for drying.

This will ensure that seasons alone do not dictate how much local businesses can export.

While sourcing resources locally will be easy, potential exporters of dried fruits need to pay attention to food handling practices, packaging and labelling options.

There are specific international standards that apply to how dried fruits are handled, packaged, labelled and transported.

For example, EU demands that the general quality requirement for all dried fruits is that products should be of “sound, fair and marketable quality” and bear the full name of their country of origin.

The name of the product should also be declared, and the exporter should specify whether the product is naturally dried, or sugar is added.

A key selling proposition for dried fruits and nuts is the packaging.

Dried fruits and nuts can be marketed as snacks for on-the-go or in between meals and offering convenience packaging will go a long way in improving the visibility of the product.

Producers need to ensure that the packaging is suitable for the product in terms of the preservation and handling procedures.

The quality of packaged dried foods can also be affected by storage conditions and the gases contained in the packaging.

ZimTrade developed ZimPackaging portal (www.zimpackaging.co.zw), an online information center offering packaging solutions to local businesses.

Here, start-ups can easily find packaging solutions that apply to the exact dried fruit they plan to produce for export markets.

Allan Majuru is ZimTrade chief executive