Value addition and food processing changes farmers’ lives

Polite Makwarimba (30) [fourth from the right - with a blue top] an Agroecology Training Officer for Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre. PELUM Zimbabwe Member, Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre (FPC) is working with smallholder farmers in various districts across the country, equipping them with knowledge and skills of food processing and value addition. So far this has been done in Bikita and Gutu and will be done in Matobo and Insiza districts as well. The training is targeting lead farmers as well as AGRITEX officers who then cascade the information to the rest of the farmers. Photo: Polite Makwarimba/FPC

Polite Makwarimba (30) an Agroecology Training Officer working with PELUM Zimbabwe Member, Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre (FPC) says value addition and food processing has changed the lives of farmers that PELUM Zimbabwe Member, Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre is working with.

These farmers have been struggling to secure good markets and good returns for their produce.

“Farmers grow their crops and sometimes they fail to get markets for their produce. Often the market is flooded or as it is now during this COVID-19 era, access to markets is limited. The produce ends up rotting and some they end up using as livestock feed,” says Polite.

“Another issue we noted was that in many communities there are lots of fruits such as nyii [Berchemia discolor], masawu [Ziziphus mauritiana], amarula [Sclerocarya birrea] and others but farmers are not aware of their value. Often when selling them they are sold just as fruits yet they can be processed into products such as jam and juice,” adds Polite.

It was in response to these challenges and unrealized opportunities that Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre began training farmers on food processing, value addition as well as linking them to markets.

“So in response to those challenges we trained farmers on marketing and now we are teaching them how to add value to their products. For example, instead of just growing tomatoes and selling them like that, they could add value by processing them into tomato sauce or jam which increases value of the produce so they fetch better income,” says Polite.

The work that Fambidzanai Permaculture Centre is doing has changed the lives of those farmers.

“Some of them are now able to stand on their own. They are supplying local markets and some are even exporting. This means there is cash inflow for them. They are no longer dependent on donations and food handouts,” says Polite.

Food processing is creating new opportunities along the value chain that could benefit other members of the community.

“This initiative can benefit and empower others in the community including those who are not good at growing crops who can be engaged in the value chain as food processors,” says Polite.

Polite says the benefits are not only financial but also nutritional.

“We are looking forward to seeing farmers having enough food at their tables as well as balanced diets and good nutrition for their families,” says Polite.