Concern over an exodus of skilled labour from Zimbabwe’s horticulture sector has been grossly exaggerated, according to the country’s Horticultural Promotion Council (HPC).
The HPC told the journal an article published in the domestic newspaper, The Standard, had misquoted information from the council’s latest report on the state of the industry.
Basilio Sandamu, HPC’s ceo, said: “There has been a loss of some skills to other countries but there are still a lot of skills in horticultural production still resident in Zimbabwe. There is abundant general labour, although there are periodic constraints at the supervisory and managerial levels.
“These levels are in great demand in Southern and Eastern Africa because of rapid growth in horticultural production. The HPC and its membership as well as other stakeholders are continuously engaged in training people at these levels.
One horticultural producer in Zimbabwe has suggested the situation is graver than the HPC has admitted, however.
He said: “The skilled labour will not return easily as the way they were removed from their farms is unforgettable. The unskilled labour is still about and could be mobilised again if conditions are dramatically improved.”
But Zimbabwean horticulture has traditionally been both labour and cost-intensive. And the instability and slump in investment in recent times would prohibit many from returning without financial assistance, the producer claimed.
Sandamu said industry members had gained from the Productive Sector Facility (PSF), launched by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) last year, and the increase in the Agricultural Sector Productivity Enhancement Facility (ASPEF) from Z$5-7 trillion in May this year. To date, Z$950 billion has been released to farmers under ASPEF.
However, according to Sandamu, the uptake of ASPEF has been slow due to inadequate disbursal and repayment arrangements and changes in “economic fundamentals” have caused the interest rates to rise from five per cent to 20 per cent.
The industry insider said unrealistic exchange rates set by the country’s Central Bank were also afflicting the industry: “With the Central Bank setting the rates so low the producer is not getting a fair price for the product. This has put a lot of producers out of business.”
Other remaining problems include the adoption of farms by inexperienced, and often military personnel, loss of faith from European markets due to political unrest and volume insufficiency, plus China’s growing domination in the Australian and Far-Eastern markets.
Expensive and unreliable airfreight is further compromising the limited volumes still viable for export, it is claimed.
British Airways and Air Zimbabwe are the only two carriers still flying out of Harare.
Most fresh produce is trucked 1000km south to be flown out of Johannesburg, leading to extra costs and reduced shelf life.
