Uproar over vegetable smuggling

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FARMERS in Umguza district have cried foul over the alleged vegetable smuggling into Victoria Falls by former Zimbabwean farmers now based in Zambia.

FARMERS in Umguza district have cried foul over the alleged vegetable smuggling into Victoria Falls by former Zimbabwean farmers now based in Zambia.

OWN CORRESPONDENT

This was heard by captains of industry and commerce on Wednesday at a Chronicle breakfast business meeting in Bulawayo after of Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union chairperson, Irene Dade Maphenduka, pleaded with Transport minister Obert Mpofu to act on the issue.

Maphenduka, who is also a National Livestock Committee member complained about the influx of vegetables in Victoria Falls, which previously was a major market for Umguza farmers.

She alleged that the farm produce was coming from Zimbabwean farmers who are based in Zambia, Livingstone.

“They have taken our market in Victoria Falls and we are now suffering and we have decided to take the matter with the Transport and Infrastructural development minister Obert Mpofu,” Maphenduka said.

Women Farmers’ Association national chairperson Judith Maphosa echoed similar sentiments in an interview with Southern Eye Business.

“The market has been taken away and it is being flooded. Supermarkets in Victoria Falls are no longer giving us orders,” She said.

In response, Mpofu said the government was aware of the vegetable smuggling and would swiftly deal with the issue.

The alleged smuggling of vegetables comes after Zimbabwe banned imports of fresh fruit and vegetables in April this year arguing that increased local production would meet domestic demand.

The ban mostly impacted supplies of tomatoes, potatoes, mangoes, grapes and apples from neighbouring South Africa.

South African fruit and vegetable exports to Zimbabwe are worth at least $1 million a month, according to trade data.

Zimbabwe’s farming output, including its staple maize crop, has slumped by over 60% since 2000, following seizures of white-owned farms by President Robert Mugabe’s controversial government.