By Lucy Adautin
Zimbabwean farmers are eager to tap into the growing global blueberry market, but self-reliant growers like Willard Zireva point to financial constraints and limited government backing as major hurdles.
Though Zimbabwe is now one of the fastest-growing blueberry producers worldwide, with output doubling to 7,000 metric tons last year thanks to a favorable climate, farmers face difficulties in securing the necessary funding for their businesses.
Horticultural exports, with blueberries playing a key role, now contribute over $100 million annually to Zimbabwe’s economy. The sector once reached a high of $140 million in 1999, before being disrupted by land seizures initiated by former President Robert Mugabe, which targeted white-owned farms to redistribute land to Black citizens.
Even with the recent positive growth in agriculture, banks are still reluctant to provide financing due to unclear land ownership laws, making it tough for Black farmers like Zireva to scale up their operations.
Blueberry farming in Zimbabwe is currently dominated by the few remaining local white farmers, many of whom are looking for foreign investment to expand operations.
Zimbabwe’s banks do not accept the 99-year leases handed by the government to resettled farmers as collateral for borrowing.
The banks also tend to be reluctant to lend to farmers because the state has in the past arbitrarily acquired farmland, including from some Black commercial farmers.
Zireva cultivates 12 hectares of blueberry crops at his Talana farm 100 km (62 miles) west of capital city Harare, which he bought freehold in the 1990s before the land seizures.
He said that he had to rely on personal savings to plant his first crop after a local bank denied him funding.
“If funding is available, there is a massive growth opportunity,” he said.
Growing a hectare of blueberries in Zimbabwe requires at least $100,000 to import plants, peat pots from Europe, and special shades for the crops.
Other costs include refrigerated packaging warehouses and water resources.
“We need interventions and interventions have to come from government. Nobody else,” said Zireva, referring to concessional funding for farmers.
The finance and agriculture ministries, as well as the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ), did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Zireva’s farm aims to export 120 metric tons of blueberries to the United Kingdom and East Asia this year, but he says the demand far exceeds their ability to supply. His farm requires $1.2 million to double output.
“We are hoping that we can get funding next year to put in eight hectares so that we get to 20 (hectares),” Zireva said.
