eBusiness Weekly
Martin Kadzere
Breaking into export markets has never been easy for small scale farmers seeking access top high-value opportunities by participating in global chains for fresh produce.
This is partly due to lack of knowledge about the markets and lack of expertise among farmers. Poor infrastructure or lack of capital also limit the smallholder framers’ ability to meet high production standards, a huger barrier to break into export markets.
While linkages between the private sector and small holder farmers have been largely viewed as a viable model for integrating farmers into export markets, some of the schemes are less beneficial to the growers as they give contracting firms monopoly powers, according to various studies, thereby making them less sustainable.
Emerging horticulture firm in Zimbabwe, Nhimbe Fresh, is determined to turnaround such state of affairs.
Nhimbe exports blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, stone fruit, snap peas and snow peas to major international grocery retailers in the United Kingdom, European Union, United Arab Emirates and South Africa.
In maintaining its strong focus on sustainability and uplifting surrounding communities, the company runs outgrower schemes, working with hundreds of smallholder farmers who receive specialised training and support to gain vast access to export markets.
“Smallholder farmers are important players in the agricultural sector, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where they provide up to 80 percent of the food supply,” said Nhimbe, whose main operations are located in Marondera.
“Due to low yields due, small plot sizes, a lack of access to finance, and weak links to markets smallholder production tends to be marginal at best.
“Nhimbe has formulated a model that is more viable and benefits the company and smallholder farmers mutually.
“Effective farmer training is at the core of our sustainable out-grower scheme, not only in farming practices and business skills but also in the social and health aspects.”
This training includes supervisors, extension officers, and farmers’ club chairs and traditional leaders who oversee the communal irrigation schemes.
The company is also setting up an extension service where officers visit growers, on-farm or plot, to provide hands-on, one-on-one training and problem solving to ensure higher yields of export quality produce.
Apart from this training, Nhimbe Fresh enables access to inputs and irrigation infrastructure.
Plans are in place to train growers to achieve Global GAP international accreditation, so produce can be marketed, after grading and packing in the pack house, to Nhimbe’s export customers.
Nhimbe Fresh has identified 500 smallholder farmers as out growers, initially within 100 radius of the Rakodzi pack house in Marondera, as post-harvest and cold chain management is critical to quality and shelf life of fresh produce.
Going forward, and to enable out growers from other provinces to join the scheme, Nhimbe will extend its out-grower network through the establishment of satellite cold room storage facilities at strategic centres, where farmers can deliver produce.
Refrigerated trucks will move the aggregated loads to the Marondera pack house.
The out-grower scheme is expected to generate employment, of itself, for over 1 000, and Nhimbe Fresh access to 1 500 hectares of production.
“We will soon be expanding our scheme in all provinces in line with our expansion strategy and increase exports,” Nhimbe chief executive Edwin Moyo told Business Weekly in an interview.
With the company expecting to generate US$80 million in exports by 2026, farmers are expected to benefit.
Agriculture economist Dr Midway Bunu, described the model as an effective way of skills transfer to the small scale farmers.
He said training and capacity building of the small holder farmers was critical to meet export quality.
“What is critical is to make sure that there is a win-win situation under the arrangement but it is a viable model, which helps unlocking private sector funding and skills transfer as farmers can stand on their own even when the contractor is not there tomorrow,” said Dr Bunu.
“The model will help to revive the horticulture sector.
