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Plastic money: Way to go for farmers

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A TOUR of Mbare Musika shows a wide range of fruits and vegetables on the rot due to the current hot weather the country is experiencing.
This continued food waste is not only evident at the market, but is slowly becoming a permanent feature in the central business district (CBD) where street vendors sell their produce all day long.
The opportunities created by these rotting fruits and vegetables are vast although many do not seem to appreciate the impact they have on the market.
While dried produce were popular in the past, with delicious dishes such as dried vegetables (mufushwa) and dried meat (biltong/chimukuyu), nowadays people rarely include these on their diet despite the health benefits.
With this hot weather, however, so much of the fresh produce is wasting as evidenced in the streets.
This is partly due to failure by many to adopt plastic money owing to the high cost of point of sale (POS) machines.
This is in sharp contrast to the slow but flawless transition from cash usage to adoption of plastic money witnessed in the retail sector.
Traders accept mobile money transfers but farmers do not, leaving them with the burden of buying cash at an extra 20 percent charge being illegally levied by merchants.
Traders have also failed to acquire POS machines as doing so significantly erodes their profits.
According to statistics issued by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in May 2017, plastic money now accounts for 70 percent of payments in Zimbabwe.
UK resident Clementinah Rooke, currently visiting Zimbabwe, lamented the lack of innovation by locals to sun-dry fruits and vegetables.
“It is unfortunate that a lot of fruits and vegetables are being thrown away when people can sun-dry these and sell in the UK where there is a huge market for them,” she said.
“While some of the fresh produce can be sold at the moment, farmers and everybody else can sun-dry these for foreign markets.”
Local farmer Tambaoga Muzozo (40) said while opportunities are there to dry farm produce, there may be complications.
“Drying facility technologies may not be readily available to ensure that customers get hygienic dried goods as people do not trust where the foods may have been dried,” he said.
“It is also not easy to penetrate the market. Strong links are required.”
Lawrence Samuriwo (25), a vegetable vendor at Mbare Musika, said he prefers selling fresh produce.
“I like dealing with fresh vegetables because even though they may have a short lifespan, I get quick returns,” he said.
Gloria Nyakudanga, a tomato vendor, also at Mbare Musika, said she would like to know how she can grow her business.
“I always try to sell all my produce before it goes bad but when it gets to that point, that is when I sun-dry for the retailers and it fetches more money then,” she said.
“We are looking for markets to supply the dry vegetables but there is lack of information on how to go about it.
“If we can get this information, we are willing to go that route.”
Some years ago, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) came up with a simplified Customs Clearance procedure for member-states that would be used by small-scale cross border traders to facilitate easy import and export of their goods.
The simplified clearance procedure under COMESA, called the COMESA Simplified Trade Regime (STR), was introduced to solve the problems faced by small-scale cross border traders such as lack of knowledge and information on the benefits of trading with other COMESA countries; complex documents and complicated processes of filling the current forms; increased clearance costs and delays in the clearing of goods; and processing of tax refunds.
This regime is being used by small-scale cross border traders importing or exporting goods from one COMESA member-state to another.
Travellers who do not have goods for sale should not use the STR.
It is used when a small-scale cross border trader is exporting goods valued at US$1 000 or less per consignment.
The goods should be listed on the COMESA STR Common List and should be for re-sale or use in the business.
It also states that for goods grown or wholly produced in the COMESA region and appear on the Common List, the trader will complete a simplified Customs Document (declaration form) and a simplified COMESA Certificate of Origin.
These documents are filled in at the border post by the trader and are stamped and certified by a customs official.
Goods imported and exported should comply with the normal food safety, plant and animal health regulations, including environmental protection.
Import or Export permits needed to import or export certain agricultural foods and animal products are still required.
Some of the goods appearing on the Common List that qualify for preferential treatment include dried vegetables, potatoes, bananas, seeds, tomatoes and dried beans, among others.
Organisations such as ZimTrade also provide crucial information for exporters on which markets they can explore.
Their website advises that: “The export journey to be travelled is one from non-exporter to achieving a global exporter status. This is a slow and tedious journey and requires appropriate capacity building at each phase of development.”
A readiness check list on what kind of business one is into, what their unique selling point is and a whole lot of other issues are checked to prepare people for the markets.
Despite all these, not many people have access to this information, hence the continued food waste witnessed on our streets.

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