Charity Ruzvidzo Business Reporter
FARMERS have been urged to increase production of horticulture products to meet increasing demand for local produce in the lucrative European market.Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (ZCFU) president, Wonder Chabikwa said farmers were failing to meet the high demand for horticulture products, particularly peas, due to capacity constraints.

“We’re failing to meet the high demand for peas on the global market as most farmers are leaving the horticulture sector for tobacco and maize. This has led to a loss of a lot of business,” he said.

Chabikwa said close to three million kilogrammes of peas were required in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom from local farmers this year.

“Local farmers can only produce a third of the required amount of peas. Transporting and processing the peas is expensive. This has also posed as a great challenge,” he said.

At its peak, the horticulture sector was the second largest foreign currency earner in Zimbabwe after tobacco, contributing an average four percent of gross domestic product.

The country used to export about 85 percent of its flowers to the Netherlands while about 90 percent of the total fresh vegetables landed in Britain, South Africa, Zambia and Namibia. Eighty percent of locally grown fruits were consumed by British and South African markets.

Roses produced in Banket, Trelawney, Concession, Glendale, Bindura, Harare, Goromonzi and Kwekwe used to constitute 70 percent of cut-flower exports from Zimbabwe.

Other flowers grown and exported   include proteas, asters and chrysanthemums with annual varieties produced in large volumes such as ammi-majus and buplearum.

Today, the country imports the same temperate fruits such as apples, pears, plum, peach apricots, nectarine and grape from South Africa.

Farmers continue to complain over continued smuggling of cheaper agriculture products as this affects their business.

Production and earnings from the sector plunged at the turn of the millennium when the West imposed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe in protest over the historic land reform programme, which has benefited more than 200,000 families.

Of late the EU has been re-engaging Zimbabwe in a bid to normalise relations with the new envoy for the bloc, Philippe Van Damme saying Europe was open for Zimbabwe exports.

The EU has also pledged to avail about $300 million funding to support the country’s agriculture sector and social amenities.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) met Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made over delays in the issuance of export and import permits to local producers.

CZI president Charles Msipa said there was a need for dialogue for the economy to move forward.

He expressed the need for certainty and agreed timeframes in processing of import and export permits by Ministry of Agriculture for planning purposes by importers and exporters.