THE horticulture sector has the potential to make a significant contribution in the turnaround of the economy, ZimTrade chief executive officer, Mr Hebert Chakanyuka has said.Speaking in an interview from Harare, Mr Chakanyuka said the horticultural industry could contribute significantly in improving food supply in the country.

“As the 2010 World Cup soccer showcase draws nearer, we envisage high demand of food in the country.“With the horticultural sector, it does not necessarily mean that farmers can only invest in greenhouse products.

In rural areas such as Mutoko and Murehwa, small holder farmers can grow vegetables such as tomatoes and onions.This can help in turning around the fortunes of the country by generating forex if the produce is sold to foreign markets,” he said.

Mr Chakanyuka revealed that ZimTrade would support a wide spectrum of farmers by taking them for a benchmark visit to Kenya in the first quarter of this year.“As ZimTrade, we intend to take a wide spectrum of farmers to Kenya for a benchmark visit at the end of March or April.

“Although a wide spectrum of farmers will visit Kenya, we are targeting at least 10 smallholder farmers dotted across the country so that they become motivated in horticulture farming,” he said.He said Kenya was one of the countries with a leading horticulture market in Africa and Europe. He added that taking farmers to Kenya would help them improve on capacity utilisation as well as discovering potential markets.

He also said horticultural industry was growing by an average of 10 percent per year in developed markets.
However, Mr Chakanyuka bemoaned a sudden decline of horticulture produce after the land reform programme in the country."Before the land reform programme, the horticulture sector grew significantly by 20 percent per annum. Nevertheless, after the land reform programme there was a significant drop on the growth of the sector owing to a number of challenges facing the country," he said.

With the new political dispensation, Mr Chakanyuka expressed optimism that the industry would re-emerge as one of the country's key sectors of the economy.Before 2000, the country's horticultural export industry experienced phenomenal growth since inception in the mid-1980s.

In the years prior to 2000 the horticultural sector became the third largest agricultural commodity after tobacco and livestock.In addition, horticulture was acknowledged as the second largest foreign exchange earner after tobacco and accounted for approximately 3.5 percent less than 4.5 percent of Gross Domestic Products.

Foreign exchange earnings increased by an average of 30 percent per annum in the 1990s.The horticultural sector was also considered strategic in terms of high employment opportunities since most production systems were labour intensive. On average, a project created an additional 25 to 30 jobs per hectare.