The Sunday Mail
Trade Focus
Allan Majuru
HORTICULTURE has been identified as one of the priority areas with potential to significantly grow Zimbabwe’s exports.
The National Export Strategy (2019-2023) identifies horticulture as one of the 15 sectors prioritised for export development and promotion.
Local climatic conditions have inherent potential to support horticulture.
This has enabled farmers to produce some of the world’s top-quality horticultural crops, which include tropical, citrus and deciduous fruits; various vegetables; tree nuts; avocados and cut flowers.
According to the National Export Strategy, at peak, the country exported around 18 400 tonnes of flowers, 14 200 tonnes of vegetables and 45 000 tonnes of fruits, with earnings of approximately US$143 million annually.
During this period, the export market was largely supplied by large-scale commercial producers.
In recent years, smallholder farmers have been integrated into the mainstream export business.
Most smallholder farmers are exporting as outgrowers, while others have grouped themselves to make it easy to consolidate and meet buyers’ required quantities.
One of the secrets for smallholder farmers has been selecting crops that are easy to manage but offer high returns over longer periods.
This is where stone fruits come into play.
Stone fruits, also known as drupes, are fruits with a stone-like or hard endocarp with a seed inside. Examples of stone fruits are cherries, peaches, apricots, lychees, nectarines, plums, berries and mangoes.
All stone fruits can be classified as either freestone or clingstone.
Freestone fruits have a stone that can be easily removed from the flesh as the two are not attached, while clingstone fruits have stones that cannot be easily removed from the flesh, as the two are attached.
There is a global surge in demand for stone fruits because of perceived health benefits. Stone fruits are rich in Vitamin C, which helps in building a strong immune system and reduces the impact and duration of summer colds.
These fruits, especially plums, are also rich in Vitamin K, which is critical in maintaining healthy bones and teeth.
When cooked and taken as dessert, their rich supply of carotenoids can help improve eyesight, skin membranes and immune function. They are an excellent source of fibre, which helps the body to digest food efficiently and smoothly, making them ideal for people who are on weight management.
Export opportunities
According to Trade Map, global imports of apricots, cherries and peaches have grown from US$6,5 billion in 2017 to US$9,5 billion in 2021.
In 2021, the global import value of fresh cherries stood at US$5,02 billion, while that of fresh peaches, including nectarines, stood at US$2,6 billion.
Zimbabwe’s share of the global market of stone fruits is, however, still small.
Riding on the high quality of the local produce, thanks to good soils and favourable climatic conditions, there is room for local producers to grow their exports by increasing production.
Current export markets for Zimbabwe-grown stone fruits are Netherlands, South Africa and Zambia, among others.
Local farmers who intend to export to Europe are encouraged to take advantage of the interim Economic Partnership Agreement (iEPA).
The iEPA trade deal allows qualifying products from developing countries that are members to be sold to European markets duty-free and quota-free if they have requisite certification.
Those considering the United Kingdom (UK) market can also take advantage of the Eastern and Southern Africa Economic Partnership Agreement (UK-ESA-EPA) currently in place.
The UK-ESA-EPA provides duty-free and quota-free access to goods exported from Zimbabwe to UK.
The agreement, thus, provides a direct route to market Zimbabwean products, as local exporters will continue to enjoy tariff and quota-free access into the UK market.
To increase exports from the sub-sector, producers must also align their products and processes along current global trends, as these indicate where they can obtain high value.
Global trends
The peach and other stone fruits have been sold in many different forms throughout the world depending on preferences of the region. The concept of the peach and other stone fruits is expanding to include a wider range of colours, shapes, sizes and flavours. The expansion of stone fruit consumption will depend on marketing, quality consistency and cost.
Market trends that are impacting stone fruit consumption are globalisation and the need for year-round supplies of produce and high cost of labour.
Other factors include diversification of the produce department and related products, health benefits of the fruit and safety issues of pesticide use, including bacterial contamination of fresh produce.
These pressures have renewed interest in production systems to extend the harvest season, reduce chemical inputs and ensure consistent fruit quality.
In response, producers are focusing more on developing cultivars with higher fruit quality, better post-harvest fruit characteristics and greater resistance to disease and pests. Top producers are also focusing on greater diversity of fruit types to market, modified tree architecture to facilitate fruit culture and adaptation to subtropical and tropical regions of the world.
Consumer trends are also tilting in favour of dried products that can be enjoyed whole as on-the-go snacks, or as additions to savoury and sweet recipes alike.
The crop is marketed as fresh, canned and dried. The fruit can also be processed into juice.
Window periods
Generally, in late spring, you will find cherries and apricots, while in midsummer, peaches, nectarines and plums will begin to show up, continuing through the end of summer.
In Zimbabwe, the window period for cherries is August to October; peaches – October to January; nectarines – October and November; and mangoes -November to February.
Export requirements
All agricultural exports must conform to certain market regulations.
Exporters must ensure each shipment is accompanied by a complete set of documentation — commercial invoice, packing list, bill of entry, CD1 form, certificate of origin, agro-dealer certificate and phyto-sanitary certificate, as well as import and export permits.
The agro-dealer certificate is obtained from the Agricultural Marketing Authority, and the phyto-sanitary certificate is obtained from Plant Protection offices, while the export permit is obtained from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development.
An exporter must ask for an import permit from their client. These permits are issued for a specific quantity and period.
The export permit is required by plant health inspectors at the export points, as well as the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, who also enter the quantities exported in their system, as the exporter draws down quantities exported against quantities specified in the permit.
In other markets, they also require that packaging and labelling requirements are met, otherwise the product will be destroyed or returned at the exporters’ expense.
Traceability is one of the key issues required by the importer, hence the farmers are required to ensure they put in place mechanisms to that effect.
Allan Majuru is ZimTrade’s CEO
