HARARE (Askume) – Zimbabwean farmers aim to capitalise on growing global demand for blueberries but self-financed growers like Willard Zirewa see a lack of funds and minimal government support as obstacles.
Although Zimbabwe is one of the world’s fastest-growing blueberry producers , with production doubling to 7,000 tonnes last year due to favourable weather, Zimbabwean farmers still struggle to obtain financing for their operations.
Zimbabwe’s horticultural exports exceed US$100 million annually, driven partly by blueberries. The industry’s exports peaked at $140 million in 1999 but were disrupted when former President Robert Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms to resettle landless black citizens.
Despite recent growth in the industry, banks remain wary of agricultural financing because of uncertainty over land ownership, making expansion challenging for black farmers like Zirewa.
Blueberry cultivation in Zimbabwe is currently dominated by a handful of local white farmers, many of whom are seeking foreign investment to expand their operations.
Banks in Zimbabwe do not accept 99-year leases issued by the government to resettled farmers as collateral for borrowing.
Banks are also reluctant to lend to farmers because of the state’s history of arbitrary acquisition of agricultural land, including from some black commercial farmers.
Zirewa grows 12 hectares of blueberries on his farm in Tarana, 100 kilometres (62 miles) west of the capital Harare, whose freehold he bought in the 1990s before the land was acquired.
He said he had to rely on personal savings to grow his first crop after a local bank refused to provide him funding.
“Big opportunity for growth”
“If the funding comes through, there are huge opportunities for growth,” he told Askume.
Growing one hectare of blueberries in Zimbabwe costs at least US$100,000, including importing seedlings, peat pots and special crop dyes from Europe.
Other costs include refrigerated packaging warehouses and water resources.
“We need intervention, and the intervention has to come from the government. Not from anybody else,” Zirewa said, referring to subsidized funding for farmers.
The ministries of finance and agriculture and the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Zirewa Farms aims to export 120 tonnes of blueberries to the UK and East Asia this year, but says demand far exceeds their ability to supply.
He said his farm needs $1.2 million to double production.
“We hope to get funding to invest another 8 hectares next year so we can reach 20 hectares,” said Zhireva.
Zimbabwe’s Horticulture Development Council (HDC) says a lack of long-term financing is a major obstacle to the industry’s plan to double blueberry cultivation to 1,500 hectares by 2030.
HDC Chief Executive Linda Nielsen told Askume that without the funding, “we will see tonnage growth in the blueberry industry. We really need to increase acreage and maintain our market share.”
