ZimTrade seeks to capacitate tea growers in Honde Valley

ZimTrade is working with several farmers from the country’s eastern highlands to equip them with the relevant technical and export market knowledge to realise better returns and grow the country’s export basket.

The country’s national trade development and promotion body is working closely with a group of farmers under the Honde Valley Tea Growers cluster to enrich their market intelligence and export awareness.

The collaboration is expected to unlock direct access to international markets for the farmers.

Operating on a 600-hectare piece of land, the Honde Valley Tea Growers cluster has a membership of 1 200 farmers with capacity to produce six million kilogrammes of tea per year.

However, the yield potential has been dropping over time weighed down by low producer prices offered by buyers, mostly big tea producers or tea exporters operating in Honde Valley).

These farmers are currently selling the raw tea leaves at US$0,13 cents per kg while a kilogramme of processed tea fetches up to US$9,90 per kg.

Their sales used to reach the group’s full production capacity of 6 million kg when they sold the ideal price of US$0,20 cents per/kg but the volumes have dwindled to 1,8 million kg per year. Prices plummeted to as low as US$0,06 cents per kg in 2013.

While a recent price increase to US$0,13 has improved returns, the volumes have continued dwindling, dropping to about 1,2 million kilogrammes per year because of the unattractive prices.

In a bid to value add and earn more the cluster farmwrs have since established a mini factory and now produces rolling tea also called orthodox tea which has lucrative niche markets across the world, particularly in India and China.

The farmers said they were looking forward to a better future through working closely with ZimTrade.

Honde Valley Tea Growers chairman Mr Eliah Matsikira said he was pinning hopes on the collaboration with the national trade development and promotion body.

“We know this partnership will make us find better-paying markets compared to what we are getting currently. We will be grateful for any lucrative market, local or international.

“We are happy because ZimTrade is now giving us technical support so that our orthodox tea complies with the rules of markets we intend to supply,” said Mr Matsikira.

He said the consortium recently sent samples to Kenya and the Netherlands for potential export business.

Tea production is a lucrative business and the consortium seeks to grow its market footprint locally and internationally.

Tea farming is one of the most important agricultural activities in Kenya, contributing significantly to the country’s economy.

“We went to Kenya for training last year and they confessed that Zimbabwean tea ranks amongst the best, and Kenyan companies want our tea.”

Tea cultivation is mostly done in high-altitude areas with fertile soils and a cool climate, which provide ideal conditions.

Kenya is the largest tea exporter in the world, with tea farming supporting millions of small-scale farmers and providing employment opportunities in the rural areas.

It is in this regard that ZimTrade has also engaged avocado farmers in Ward 11 and 13 of Chimanimani to form a cluster for avocado farmers.

The area is endowed with avocados and farmers can earn more from the export business compared to what they are realising currently from the local market.

Currently, the cluster has circa 600 farmers who are being trained for organic certification as the pioneer group.

The cluster is set to have more than 1 500 organically certified farmers.

In an interview one of the avocado farmers , Mrs Jessina Musikavanhu said “Middlemen have been our (biggest) problem for a while now, they are getting a bucket of avocados at about US$3 per bucket from us. This initiative is life-changing, this is likely going have bigger returns for us,” said Mrs Musikavanhu.

Global avocado market size was valued at US$16,69 billion in 2022 and is poised to grow to US$38,71 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) of 9,80 percent during the forecast period (2024-2031).-herald