The Sunday Mail
Trade Focus
Allan Majuru
AS the interest in export business among local farmers grows, particularly among smallholder players and young people, there is need to diversify export product lines — focusing on high-value produce with ready demand.
By focusing on high-value produces, local farmers are guaranteed to earn more from little pieces of land, which in turn will make it easy for the country to achieve the target of 10 percent export growth set by the National Export Strategy, launched by President Mnangagwa in 2019.
Passion fruit and granadilla are some of these horticultural produces that can offer lucrative returns for local farmers.
In most rural areas where the fruits are common, they have been used as a hedge plant or wind barrier for many years.
By no doubt, this long history with the fruits makes them some of the easy crops to integrate smallholder farmers, young people and rural communities into export businesses.
Grown as fresh fruits or for juice extraction, passion fruit and granadilla are highly nutritious tropical fruits that are considered to be superfoods due to their antioxidants and other health benefits. In most cases, production and export of the fruits is preferred by small-scale farmers due to good returns and availability of markets, whose demand has been growing over the past few years.
The growing demand is currently driven by diversified application of the produce such as in fruit beverages, smoothies, and other food manufacturing processes.
In addition, the growing demand for superfoods-as consumers seek stronger immune systems against the coronavirus-means local producers who venture into passion fruit and granadilla farming are assured of easy access to international markets if they meet key standards and statutory requirements.
Although there is a ready demand for passion fruit in most international markets, the competition among producers is also increasing and those who secure markets now will have a sustainable access to the markets.
Hence, this is the right time to start production for local farmers who want to tap into the growing demand.
Market performance
As Zimbabwe has a long history of passion fruit production at the small scale, this is the produce that can offer quick wins compared to granadilla. According to a passion fruit market forecast report by ReportLinker, the global passion fruit concentrate market was valued at around US$465 million in 2019 and is projected to reach around US$669 million by 2027.
Expectations are that the compound annual growth rate of passion fruit market will be 4, 7 percent between 2020 and 2027.
Regarding market segmentation, the report reveals that Europe held the largest share in the global passion fruit concentrate market in 2019, followed by the Americas.
Recent statistics released by Tridge show that largest importers in 2020 were America (US$707 million), China (US$387 million), Germany (US$298 million), France (US$175 million), Netherlands (US$164 million), and Japan (US$157 million).
Currently, potential markets for Zimbabwe-grown passion fruits are European and African countries as well as other emerging markets for Zimbabwean produce such as China, Japan, and United Arab Emirates.
In Europe, Zimbabwean farmers have a shot at Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, and Germany. The country is already exporting huge quantities of horticultural produces such as mange tout and sugar snap peas, fine beans, and flowers to these markets, which makes it easy for local producers to export more passion fruit if they ride on existing channels.
Regional markets such as Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia and Angola are also potential markets for locally-produced passion fruit or its value-added products.
The export product
Passion fruit and granadilla are fast growing, shallow rooted, perennial vines that can grow as tall as six meters or more, depending on the supporting structures.
For most growers, individual plants can be harvested at three years and above, if they are well taken care of.
There are two common varieties sought after in the market, that is purple passion fruit and yellow granadilla fruit. The purple passion fruit has been the most grown in Zimbabwe.
In terms of characteristics, the purple variety performs well in most soils in the country and produces a fruit of five centimetres diameter (on average). This variety has a superior and aromatic flavour compared to granadilla fruit; hence it is most preferred in export markets.
Passion fruit is commonly used both as a fruit and in juice extraction.
Granadilla, on the other hand performs well in midland and lowland areas and is known to have bigger fruits than purple variety.
Due to its higher acidic content, granadilla fruit is often used in juice extraction.
For local growers, this variety can be used as rootstock for purple passion fruit as it is tolerant to phytophtora root rot, nematodes, brown spot, and is resistant to fusarium wilt.
In terms of production requirements, around 1 600 plants can be accommodated on a single hectare at 2mX3m spacing.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates the plant population to around 1111 seedlings per hectare at 3mX3m spacing.
Although the crop requires attention especially at nursing and transplanting, it is easy to grow compared to high demanding produce like blueberries and flowers. Both varieties perform well in deep and well-drained loamy soils.
Considering the good soils and climate conditions in the country, local farmers can concentrate on organic farming, which will make it easy for them to earn a premium price on the domestic market.
In fact, FAO advises to use compost as fertilisers for the crop.
The expected yield, according to FAO, is 12-18 tonnes/hectare in the first year, 20-25 tonnes/hectare in the second year, and 10-12 tonnes/hectare in the third year.
With good plant management and good agricultural practices, farmers can surpass these harvest targets.
From transplanting dates, most passion fruit varieties will start bearing in 7-8 months after transplanting, whilst harvesting starts between 12-13 months after transplanting.
Consolidation, way to go
To unlock market access for smallholder farmers, there is need for them to come together as common groups and find best models that will turn their numbers into sustainable businesses.
Here, farmers will reduce transaction and overhead costs by purchasing inputs together, reducing the cost of transport per farmer and accessing discounts through bulk purchasing.
Once organised, they can also make use of Best Models Farms established by ZimTrade – the national trade development and promotion agency – and its partners to onboard smallholder farmers.
Currently, there are three operational Best Model Farmers in Midlands, Mashonaland West, and Mashonaland East and these can offer much needed support to farmers who want to venture into passion fruit export business.
There is also need to address some key challenges impeding aggregation.
For example, TradeCom II findings highlighted that the major challenges impeding aggregation for export market of the various products is issues of compliance.
