Treat farming as business, ARDA tells communal farmers

SYDNEY SAIZE IN MUTARE

Communal farmers’ mindset should change and start looking at farming as a business where they grow to sell their produce, an official with the Agricultural Rural Development Association (ARDA) has said.

Speaking at a meeting with farmers in Mutare, Denford Nzarayebani, an agriculturist with ARDA suggested communal farmers should seek a market first before they embark on growing a particular crop. He implored farmers to register with the Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) in order to create linkages with buyers.

“We need progressive farmers, who are focused, business minded and futuristic in planning.

“A good farmer looks for a market first before indulging and has to have alternative markets for their produce,” Nzarayebani said.

A representative of Rusitu Farmers’ Trust, with a membership of more than 1 000, said they lacked modern expertise on marketing their produce and hoped the intervention of AMA would be critical in alleviating the challenges faced in the past.

Farmers under the umbrella body said they needed empowerment on the knowledge of cost harvest management of produce and cash-flow management.

The farmers said partnering AMA would open new avenues in marketing their produce, as they would be able to reach out to the global market.

“The farmers in our area are faced with a challenge of storage

facilities for our produce when produced either in bulky or in small quantities. The challenges include refrigeration space for perishables such as fruits among others,” one farmer said.

Most farmers moaned over the high cost of inputs, which compromised their harvests leading to poor quality of produce.

The farmers revealed that some of them still resorted to old and ancient methods of farming.

The farmers said they need to add value to their produce through diversification by canning, and drying in periods of high yields and reducing rotting of excess produce.