The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
BULAWAYO-based company, Green Afrique Technologies says they are ready to start exporting passion fruit next year with the assistance of ZimTrade as they broaden their markets.
Passion fruit, better known as granadilla, is a highly nutritious tropical plant which traces its origins to South America. It is a rich source of powerful antioxidants and has various health benefits.
Besides medicinal qualities, oil drawn from its seed can be used to produce oil for cosmetics, skin products and in the production of stockfeed.
In an interview, Green Afrique Technologies chief executive officer Mr Anglistone Sibanda said they were ready to penetrate the export markets.
“There is huge demand for Zimbabwe’s horticultural products across the globe, especially in the European markets. As an agricultural, marketing and research firm that is actively marketing passion fruit in the country, with the assistance of ZimTrade, we will be exporting passion fruit to a number of countries that include Dubai, United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU) among others,” said Mr Sibanda.
He said they were consolidating most of the requirements so that they meet set standards required by the international markets and once all is settled, they would start to move volumes next year.
Mr Sibanda said their passion fruit farming agribusiness was running an outgrower programme, while they had their own community project in Binga where they set about 40 hectares under passion fruit.
“We are currently working with 120 farmers and looking forward to increasing the number particularly from strategic provinces like Manicaland and Masvingo. This will allow us to scale up exports later next year and ZimTrade is helping us build capacity to meet the market demands. The market for passion fruit is unlimited and Zimbabwe stands a chance of raking in millions of dollars into the economy,” he added.
He said they were training farmers, providing them with inputs as well as providing the markets for them, while also exploring options for value addition.
Mr Sibanda said currently they were engaged with some local small fruit juice producers selling them the passion fruit concentrate, however, they were considering making their own local product in the near future.
He added: “There are vast and very lucrative markets for passion fruit across the globe. Passion fruit has proved to be a lucrative enterprise that can create millionaires out of young farmers in Zimbabwe. Kenyans and Ugandans are doing it. We can do it here and we can even surpass those countries.”
Zimtrade
ZimTrade recently indicated that granadilla has the potential to offer lucrative returns for local farmers. It said passion fruit farming can integrate smallholder farmers, young people and rural communities into export businesses. Passion fruit is highly lucrative, giving farmers a good regular income. It grows in various climatic zones, from the highlands to lowlands.
There is a high demand for the passion fruit, both in the local market and for export. The UK is the largest importer of the Kenyan passion fruit, followed by The Netherlands, France, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, and Belgium.
Meanwhile, the horticulture sector in the country is on a growth trajectory, with a major facelift that recently saw Government launching a US$30 million Horticulture Export Revolving Fund (HERF) in September. The fund is expected to see the recovery and growth of the sector as a major driving force in the development of agriculture.
