Source: The Herald – Breaking news.
Business Reporter
NHIMBE Fresh Exports, one of the country’s largest horticultural companies, has secured €10 million (US$11,2 million) from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for its blueberry expansion and export programme.
The blueberry expansion programme will begin towards the end of this month, with more plants arriving in August this year, Nhimbe chief executive Dr Edwin Moyo said.
Nhimbe owns farms in Marondera. Recently, the company signed joint venture (JV) agreements with a company to carry out the UAE export project on its farms.
The JV is on three farms all with water from dams and within the vicinity of the airport.
“Work on these new farms will start at the end of August during which the JV will be officially announced,” Dr Moyo said.
“A team of private buyers from the UAE is expected to visit Harare in early August. The team will visit various Nhimbe out-growers including some members of the young farmers.
“Nhimbe is also looking for a local bank to consolidate and house the UAE exports through CD1 as a one-stop shop.
“This will be done in conjunction with a Dubai-based bank making the payments from the market.
“The search is also on for a legal firm to prepare tight contracts with farmers who bank with various institutions.”
Dr Moyo said the funding would also be used to retire local bank debt “so that the company can use its own cheap free funds going forward,” he added that the focus would be on increasing export revenues and opening up new foreign markets.
Nhimbe has a green label from the European Union, which allows it to export its blueberries and other high-value products into Europe duty-free.
All standard care products will be exported into the UAE while high-value products will go into more demanding markets like Europe and the UK. This would make it easier for less developed farmers who cannot afford expensive audits to enter export markets.
Standard crops will include, butternut, potatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, sweet potatoes, watermelons, ground nuts, macadamia nuts, avocados, lemons, and oranges.
“All these products will not need processing but packing as they will go to the UAE and be re-exported to other countries such as Russia,” said Dr Moyo.
“As the world braces for food shortages caused mainly by floods, droughts and global warming and wars, Nhimbe is preparing itself to meet the gap,” he added.
Currently, typical cash crops being produced for the export market include temperate fruits (oranges, apples, pears, peaches, and nectarines), tropical fruits and vegetables (baby corn, butternut, citrus, chilli, gem squash, kiwi, lychee, mango, passion fruit, and pineapples), baby carrots, fine beans, cherry tomatoes, mange tout peas, melon, strawberries and sweet corn, as well as flowers.
Other major markets for Zimbabwe’s horticultural exports are the Netherlands, UK, South Africa, Germany, Hong Kong, Portugal, France, China, Norway, Poland, and Spain, according to Zimtrade, the country’s export promotion body.
With the Horticulture Recovery and Growth Plan under implementation to stimulate export growth, indications are that local farmers will boost production, making it easy to meet the requirements of buyers and growing demand.
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