The Sunday News
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
THE Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, Dr Anxious Masuka has said there is a need for Sadc countries to harmonise laws to make the importation processes of citrus products seamless.
He said some farmers in the region have had challenges in importing citrus and related raw materials due to strict phyto-sanitary requirements. The Minister made the call during the tour of citrus farms, Bishopstone Estate, the Toppick High-Integrated Farm, and the Schweppes Juicing Plant in Beitbridge District on Friday.
“Phyto-sanitary requirements for the importation of citrus will always be there, but we need to do is to be able to harmonise across Sadc. It is in this regard that we have allowed limited inspected imports from South Africa. We envisage a massive expansion programme in this part of the country (Beitbridge). We expect South Africa to continue propagating material, in addition to building our own internal capacity. So, it is absolutely imperative that the scientists work to harmonise the importation processes between the two countries.”
The Minister said he was visiting citrus estates to appreciate their contribution to the national economy because horticulture is one of the key ingredients of the transformation of agriculture. Dr Masuka said production levels had become low in the country and hence the need to realign services and fine-tune policies to boost production for both the local and export markets.
He said, Schweppes’s Beitbridge Juicing plant was operating at 40 percent capacity because the throughput is limited.
“However, the management here has robust plans to ensure that they secure their own raw material supply. It is in this regard that we have had discussions regarding them accessing land so that they may produce their own citrus. In addition, they can also do out-grower schemes that will benefit everyone and today’s visit shows that this year’s production is very high.”
He continued; “Some orchards are even yielding even 100 tonnes per hectare and we encourage farmers in this area to expand because in terms of Valencia (orange species) production, this is perhaps the best spot in the world.”
It is understood that the dwindling citrus stocks, had been caused by the fact that land on citrus had reduced from around 10 000 hectares to between 4 000 and 5 000 hectares. According to agriculture experts, citrus production has shifted from the country’s northern region (Mazowe) to the southern region (Beitbridge), where climatic conditions were very conducive.
Dr Masuka said the Government will soon launch eight Presidential Inputs schemes as part of the Vision 2030 initiative.
“The President’s (Mnangagwa) vision is that we must be a prosperous and empowered upper-middle-income economy by 2030 and that no one and no place should be left behind.
“For that to happen, we must have household and village-centred programmes and you will note that agriculture is at the epicentre for the attainment of vision 2030. So, it is in this regard that we have started eight Presidential schemes,” he said. — @tupeyo
