The ManicaPost
Luthando Mapepa
CHIPINGE will soon introduce an electronic platform to market its fresh farm produce to enable farmers to access lucrative and competitive markets.
The latest development follows complaints that farmers from the district were failing to properly market their products, resulting in most of them falling prey to unscrupulous buyers who offered low prices and in some cases dupe them of their produce.
District Administrator for Chipinge, Mr Edgars Seenza, said this while responding to the district’s value addition and beneficiation cluster report which pointed out that honey farmers in the district were facing marketing challenges.
Mr Seenza instead encouraged honey producers to produce more to meet high demand especially in urban areas.
Mr Seenza said the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development was in the process of establishing e-market facility for the district. The facility will go a long way in marketing various agricultural products available in the district.
“In a move that is going to make farmer have easy access to market their produce, departments of Agritex, LPD and veterinary services will soon be introducing an electronic marketing platform for farming products that are available in the district. Honey farmers will thus use the platform to market their produce in future,†said Mr Seenza.
“For a long time farmers in the district have been facing challenges in marketing their products and this has seen an increase of buyers coming from outside the district who in most cases fleece our farmers by offering low prices,†said Mr Seenza
Mr Seenza said farmers should embrace the programme as it had potential to link their products to the global market
“In this era of information and technology, the district cannot be left behind. When fully operational, all the produce by our farmers in the district will be captured in an electronic database with buyers across the country and beyond having the opportunity to see them,†he added.
Mr Seenza tasked the Ministry of Small to Medium and Enterprise to assist the farmers in selling their produce.
“There was greater need to market products that are available in the district so that there are linkages between those supplying the product and those intending to consume such products. Market linkage has a greater potential in addressing the problem of farmers failing to reach or penetrate some markets,†said Mr Seenza.
