By Nozipho Maphala
Farmers in midlands province who are part of the ZimTrade-developed Peas Cluster were told of the importance of meeting international standards at a Global GAP awareness seminar held earlier this month. The Midlands Peas Cluster is in the production of mangetout and sugar snap peas targeted for the European market. The seminar, organized by ZimTrade, exposed the farmers to a wide-range of issues that will improve the competitiveness of their products in international markets. At the seminar, the famers taken through the importance of adhering to standards and attain necessary certifications as these will unlock access to lucrative markets. Standards and certifications are a key component of export competitiveness and without them farmers have limited or no access to the lucrative global markets. Farmers operating under the Midlands Peas Cluster were encouraged to follow and adopt specific standards that are widely recognized, which makes it easy for their produce to compete in international markets.
The seminar exposed members of the cluster to the GLOBAL GAP, a voluntary standard that was established following increasing food safety concerns by supermarkets and re- tailers in the late 90s. Participants were given a run through of the benefits of obtaining the standard, such as that, it reduces farmers exposure to food safety and product safety reputation risks. The standard was said to bring greater efficiency in production, and led to improve business performance and efficiency of farm processes and management. The standard also minimizes waste of vital resources and requires a general approach to farming that would build best practices for generations to come. The importance of good record keeping was emphasised, and a brief overview of topics covered in Global GAP was given. These included complaints Handling Product Recall/Withdrawal Procedure Handling of non-conforming products, among a host of others. During the training, participants understood that Global GAP adds value to products, and enables farmers to gain access to new local and global customers, markets, suppliers, and retailers. Further to Global Gap, the participants were also advised on the need to create stronger linkages with key stakeholder, who include buyers, logistics companies, and financiers. The attendance by other strategic partners at the seminar added weight to the activities, as they also made presentations on other subjects of interest of the Cluster. For example, NMB, a commercial bank, presented financing options that are the cluster could consider exploiting to access much required financing. Most horticulture export orders fail to be fulfilled by farmers due to a lack of financing to pay for equipment, labour, inputs, and the general production of the crops. Logistics company BAK Logistics, also gave the farmers an appreciation of how logistics for fresh produce was handled by the company.
Considering that Zimbabwe is a land-linked country, seaports in Mozambique, South Africa and Namibia are usually used by exporters with bulk produce that take a little time to perish, whilst the fast-to-perish produce use air freight. The Walvis Bay port was suggested as a good option to us for the cluster, as it took between 3-5 days to reach the port by road. The Export Credit Guarantee Company (ECGC) of Zimbabwe also attended the event and gave farmers insight into how farmers can minimize risk in export business. Some of the common losses may arise from a variety of commercial and political risks inherent in all export transactions. By having insurance, the Midlands Peas Cluster could enhance their capacity to compete in the international markets and enable them to break into new markets, introduce new products and take up new buyers. A representative from Agritex also spoke on the agronomic issues around the production of export grade peas crop, and emphasized the need to use approved chemicals as per Global GAP guidelines. Further to this, a representative from Lingfield Farm – a current exporter into Europe – gave the participants information on how to handle the harvest to ensure produce is kept at its best up to the destination.
