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MozAgri | July - September 2018 1www.moz-agri.com

AgriMozVOLUME 1: ISSUE 1 MZN 125/US$5.30 JULY / AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2018

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Mozambique Food Security Outlook June 2018 to January 2019

Pest and disease destroy Mozambican agricultural plantations 13

Agribank of Zimbabwe Secures $10m for Agric 16

Malawi Government offi-cial Challenges Farmers On Manure Making 22

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4 MozAgri | July - September 2018 www.moz-agri.com

ContentsKudos to Council of ministers’ decision : ......................................................................................... 6

Agriculture in need of modernisation to boost Africa’s growth : .............................................. 7

Chinese entrepreneurs invest in grapefruit production in Mozambique : ............................. 8

Investments in the sugar industry in Mozambique increase

production to 450 thousand tons / year : ........................................................................................... 9

Mozambique Food Security Outlook June 2018 to January 2019 : .......................................... 10

Mozambique restricts logging and timber exports : ...................................................................... 11

Zimbabwean Govt Launches Command Dairy : ............................................................................... 12

Pest and disease destroy Mozambican agricultural plantations : ............................................. 13

Novos Horizontes to use Pas Reform Hatchery

Technologies’ equipment for new facility : ......................................................................................... 14

SMEs from Mozambique benefit from United Arab Emirates funding : ................................. 14

Three companies interested in recovering Mozambican

agro-industrial complex : ........................................................................................................................... 15

Agribank of Zimbabwe Secures $10m for Agric : ............................................................................ 16

World Bank funds new agricultural irrigation

programme in Mozambique : .................................................................................................................. 16

Case for Decolonising Agric Value Chains in Africa : ...................................................................... 19

Malawi Government official Challenges Farmers On Manure Making : .................................. 22


PublisherEvans Mumba

General ManagerAnorld Chinyemba

Editor Andrew Maramwidze

Editorial Contributor(s) Esnala BandaPotipher TemboObert SimwanzaJeffrey SinkambaSam Phiri

Graphics and Productions Merlin Wilson (Pty) Ltd Rekai Musari Mutisi– Layout

Advertisement Sales Precious ChimbuchimbuAgnes MumbaChilopa Majorie KasomaDoris LikondeDowell Sichitalwe Don ChuluNkosilathi MudiyiMusa ChigijiJoseph NyirendaMichael Chiku MondolokaJoshua Chibwe

Maputo Office:628 Julius Nyerere AvenueMaputo, MazambiqueP.O Box 3236, MaputoTel: +258 84 119 4017+258 84 445 5339Fax: +258 82 423 8542

Tete Office:Talhao 4109Matundo, TeteTel: +258 84 119 4017+258 212 230 941Fax: +258 212 227 698


Authorities should not be left to stand alone on the war against pest and diseases, which like robbers has plundered some of the country’s plan-

tations.

Yes, pest and diseases are like muggers, be-cause they reap where they have not sown. Our farmers are an integral part of our com-munity and helping them fight such outbreaks will surely boost our silos.

Nations across the continent are making their best to ignite agricultural activities, making farming core of economic activities and for food security purposes. We cannot wish agri-culture sector away and but can only join farm-ers to grow the sector, every country needs.

Stakeholders should be making a beeline to

prop up this fundamental and not only author-ities should be responding to this epidemic.

Kudos to the Council of Ministers who ap-proved emergency funding of 160 million met-icais (US $ 2.6 million) to help farmers fight the pests and diseases.

And other stakeholders should make a contri-bution towards this epidemic affecting agricul-tural production and even bring solutions that can curb outbreaks of pest and diseases.

In other news, the World Bank has announced intentions to contribute US$80 million to the Irrigation and Market Access Project for Farm-ers (Irriga).

The amount will be disbursed over six years and is expected to cover an area of 7,000 hect-ares and to benefit 14,000 farmers to support

the expansion and development of irrigation to increase production and income of the families covered by the project.

Not only World Bank see this potential, the UN's Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said agriculture would play an important role in improving economic growth on the African continent

UN further says modernising farms, cutting losses and strengthening value chains will be key to boosting agriculture productivity in Af-rica.

Such are developments, the agriculture sector needs and the entire nation for both economic and food security benefits, only a united force can achieve this.

Enjoy the read!

Kudos to Council of ministers’ decisionStakeholders should be making a beeline to prop up this fundamental

and not only authorities should be responding to this epidemic.


An official in the UN's Economic Com-mission for Africa (ECA) said agricul-ture would play an important role in improving economic growth in the

continent

Africa Farming Modernising farms, cutting loss-es and strengthening value chains will be key to boosting agriculture productivity in Africa.

“Agriculture is the quintessential sector for the transformation of the African continent and we must treat it as such,” the executive secretary of the UN ECA, Vera Songwe said at the 51st

Session of ECA.

However, Songwe said that Africa “is still the least technology-intensive, it uses the lowest amounts of fertilizers and is done almost in a sentimental way.”

Africa has an advantage compared with other parts of the world due to unused arable land, long growing seasons, water and labour re-sources.

A report titled Agriculture, Powering Africa’s Economic Transformation was launched at the session by former ECA executive secretary, KY

Amoako.

The report gives pointers on how to leverage the agriculture sector for Africa's economic growth.

The report backs raising farm productivity, cut-ting harvest and post-harvest losses, strength-ening value chains and building a strong downstream agro-processing sector.

It also said that modernisation of the sector would create jobs across value chains, boost incomes and reduce poverty.

Agriculture in need of modernisation to boost Africa’s growth

China has donated US$10 million to Mozambique to support the current agricultural campaign, the Chinese ambassador to Mozambique said

in Boane, near Maputo, during a visit by the chairman of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress of China, Li Zhanshu, to the Mozambique-China Centre for Research and Transfer of Agricultural Tech-nology.

Ambassador Su Jian highlighted agriculture

and food security as priority sectors of China’s support to Mozambique and recalled that five major Chinese companies are present in the country, notably in agriculture, food security, infrastructure and access roads.

Su also said that Chinese companies have made a contribution to developing Mozam-bique, thereby helping the Mozambican econ-omy to become sustainable.

The ambassador also said that the visit of the

chairman of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress of China is “of paramount importance, happening at a time when bilateral cooperation has been cemented at the highest level.”

The first deputy speaker of the Mozambican parliament, António Amélia, stressed that Chi-na has already financed training for more than 50 parliamentary officials in areas such as par-liamentary management and information and communication technologies.

China supports Mozambican agricultural campaign with US$10 million donation


A group of Chinese businessmen gath-ered in the Jiangsu Huaxi Group will invest 374 million meticals ($ 6.2 mil-lion) in a grape-growing agricultural

project in the central province of Manica, said the consortium president after the group was received in audience by the provincial gover-nor.

Wu Xie'en, quoted by the Mozambican news-paper Maputo, also said that the meeting with Governor Alberto Mondlane aimed at present-ing the project and requesting an area of land

for the implementation of the project, which in the first phase will require two thousand hect-ares.

He said that the province of Manica has ex-cellent conditions for the development of cit-rus, hence the consortium's investment in that province and added that this project is de-signed for three years, period after which will be made to see if it is worth continue or not with the production of grapefruit in the prov-ince of Manica.

The president of the consortium said that pro-duction would be preferentially exported to Europe and to China, and contacts had already been made, which shows that, if the project is viable, the product has a guaranteed market.

In addition to grapefruit production, the Chi-nese consortium plans to explore new areas and investment opportunities in the agrarian and mining sector, with Wu Xie'en saying that grapefruit production is just the kick-off for Chi-nese entrepreneurs' province of Manica.

Chinese entrepreneurs invest in grapefruit production in Mozambique


Investments made in the last five years in the recovery of the Mozambican sugar industry, valued at around US $ 800 million, have in-creased production from 90,000 to 450,000

tons per year, said the executive director of the Mozambican Sugar Producers Association ( Apamo).

João Jeque also said that this was the result of

the investment made in the four sugar-produc-ing countries in Mozambique, namely Mar-romeu and Mafambisse in the central province of Sofala and Maragra and Xinavane in Maputo province.

The president of Apamo said that in addition to the increase in exports, the sector also has a very large social impact because, he said, it

employs more than 200 thousand workers, and for the first time, started in 2017 the production of sugar supplemented with vitamin A .

The sugar sector was one of the most affected by the 1977/1992 civil war in Mozambique and is now one of the most important in the econo-my, exporting an annual average of about 240 thousand tons.

Investments in the sugar industry in Mozambique increase production to 450 thousand tons / year


Following crop failure and significantly below-average main season production, Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes are already present in semiarid areas of Gaza and

Inhambane, requiring urgent food assistance. Food security is projected to deteriorate and extend to other southern and central areas, primarily Tete, through January 2019. However, in the north and some central areas, Minimal (IPC Phase 1) outcomes are expected to prevail through the scenario period due to favorable food availability and access.

From June to September 2018, the majority of

poor households are likely to consume food from their own production and market pur-chases.

However, in areas facing Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes, poor households are expected to employ coping strategies to try to cover their food gaps.

From October 2018 to January 2019, during the typical lean season period, households are likely to employ even more unsustainable cop-ing measures, including excessively consuming wild foods. The number of food insecure peo-

ple is also likely to increase.

In southern and central areas, incomes are ex-pected to remain below average, particularly given the most likely El Niño and impacts on the new agricultural season. However, through November, food access will be slightly facilitat-ed by generally below-average maize prices in urban markets. Thereafter, prices are likely to continue rising, constraining purchasing power. In semiarid areas, below-average maize sup-plies, combined with increased demand, could push prices to above-average levels, particu-larly in remote markets.

Mozambique Food Security Outlook June 2018 to January 2019


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The Mozambican Ministry of Land, En-vironment and Rural Development has established new rules and limits for the exploration and export of timber, partic-

ularly precious species, under an order issued last week and published this week by the Mo-zambican press.

The order, which went into force on 29 March, prohibits the logging and collection of Ptero-carpus tinctorius species, known locally as nkula, Swartzia madagascariensis (ironwood)

and Combretum imberbe (mondzo), and the export of timber of chanfuta, umbila and jam-bire, “three species that will be licensed only to supply the domestic market.”

The export of wood of native species will only be authorised to operators duly certified by the Ministry, provided that they meet specific cri-teria, namely “the presentation of their annual export plan” and “compliance with the criteria of establishment of industry.”

The same order also establishes that the max-imum quantity of wood for exploration is set at 350,000 cubic metres, representing approxi-mately half the quantity authorised for the first quarter, of 600,000 cubic metres.

The Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural Development also determined that “operators with a simple license and forest concession will only be licensed after the inspection of their equipment and the potential of the area.”

Mozambique restricts logging and timber exports


The dairy sector is set for a massive revitalisation after Government launched the National Command Dairy pro-gramme at Sangano Cooperative Dairy in Makoni last week.

Speaking during the launch, Finance and Economic Devel-opment Minister Mr. Patrick Chinamasa, who was standing in for Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Minister Perrance Shiri, said the programme would see the country producing 200 million litres of milk per annum, a figure which was last reached before the land reform programme.

Chinamasa added that Government had partnered with private companies to fund the programme. In Manicaland, diamond min-ing concern Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) will fund the artificial insemination programmes while Homelink will do the same in Mashonaland East province.

"Dairy farming is not an easy venture and since we embarked on the land reform programme milk production plunged from 200 million litres per annum to 30 million litres. The new farmers are, however, trying their best and production has since risen to 55 mil-lion liters per annum. The nation consumes 120 liters of milk annu-ally meaning the surplus is for export.

"The Command Dairy programme will allow the nation to revert to its previous status where we used to export milk as opposed to the current situation of importing. Command Dairy is going to be suc-cessful just as Command Maize, which has seen the nation meeting its maize demand successfully," said Min Chinamasa.

He stressed that the programme was purely commercial adding that it was not free for all because freebies could destroy the nation.

Minister Chinamasa said heifers would be availed to farmers who had the capacity to partake in dairy farming.

"Government is also going to avail skilled personnel who will be on its payroll to monitor, assist and manage dairy cooperatives and small-scale farmers. We are doing this because the dary industry is complex hence most farmers find the going tough.

"At every dairy scheme Government will also avail a tractor and a baler. The farmers will also get trained before being contracted by the Government. Government has availed five heifers for Sangano Dairy Cooperative under the Command Scheme and in addition to that, as the Member of Parliament for Makoni Central I am donating three dairy bulls to the cooperative and 10 kilogrammes of maize seed to each farmer to grow maize for silage," said Chinamasa.

Sangano Dairy Cooperative chairman, Mr Peter Mudangwe said the advent of the Command Dairy scheme would help the dairy industry to get back to its former glory. He added that the scheme would assist many cooperatives and individual farmers who had given up on the industry to get back into business.

Zimbabwean Govt Launches Command Dairy

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"We welcome the Command Dairy programme because it has come at the right time when everyone is optimistic that the economy will fully recover. Most cooperatives and individual farmers are limping because dairy farming is capital intensive.

"The programme will reignite energy in dairy farming again. As Sangano we are hum-bled that this programme has been launched at our cooperative and we are also among the first to be chosen to implement the programme. We will not disappoint; the cooperative has been in existence for years and all the members have amassed a lot of valuable experience," said Mr Mudangwe.


Pests and diseases destroyed more than a third of Mozambican agricultural plantations, and losses from lost crops could reach 19 billion meticals (US $ 300

million), the Council of Ministers spokesperson said Tuesday in Maputo Administration of Cul-ture and Tourism.

Ana Comoana said at the end of the meeting of the government members that the corn has been attacked by the funnel caterpillar, the coconut tree for the "lethal yellowing", the ba-nana for the disease of Panama and the toma-to for the mining caterpillar.

The spokeswoman said authorities were vigi-lant about the risk of lethal necrosis of maize found in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Sudan and also noted the presence of the fruit fly "in virtually all provinces. "

He also said that more than 41 thousand hect-ares of agricultural plantations were affected by the plagues, with the loss of 3000 hectares of maize and the production of coconuts and banana recorded losses.

Ana Comoana said that the Council of Minis-ters approved emergency funding of 160 mil-lion meticais (US $ 2.6 million) to help farmers fight the pests and diseases that are affecting agricultural production.

Pest and disease destroy

Mozambican agricultural plantations


Five of a total of 18 Mozambican small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the agricultural and industrial sectors meet the requirements to obtain fund-

ing from a United Arab Emirates development support fund, Ibraimo Khabir, vice president of the Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA) said in Maputo.

Khabir said that of the 18 projects submitted and analysed, five met the eligibility criteria,

including audited and certified accounts of the last three financial years and an up-to-date economic and financial investment plan.

The vice-president of the CTA was speaking at the end of the First Cycle of Financing for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, an initiative that proposes to grant US$20 million for each economically viable project that meets eligibil-ity criteria.

Khabir said that the CTA and the United Arab Emirates fund had launched the second financ-ing cycle, which will run until 30 May.

The CTA has established partnerships with In-tellica, a company that will provide technical assistance in setting up the projects and Price-waterhouse Cooper to certify SME accounts, which are the biggest challenges faced by Mo-zambican companies.

SMEs from Mozambique benefit from United Arab Emirates funding

Mozambique-based Novos Horizon-tes and its partner Philafrica will use Pas Reform Hatchery Technologies’ equipment for their new facility

located in Nampula, in northeastern Mozam-biqueNHMNovos Horizontes' new facility in northeastern Mozambique will be operational in August. (Image source: Pas Reform Hatchery Technologies)

The facility, set to be operational in August, will be equipped with SmartSetPro setters, Smar-

tHatchPro hatchers, hatchery automation and climate control systems.

The facility will have a capacity of seven million day-old chicks per year.

“We are proud to be able to play such a major role in bringing advanced hatchery technolo-gies to Mozambique, which will help support social and economic development in the coun-try,” Adriaen Sligcher, Pas Reform’s Southern African representative, said.

The company’s project will be financed by Ra-bobank and Atradius, which is supporting the deal with export credit guarantees.

An export credit guarantee is an insurance pol-icy that protects an exporter against default by an importer.

The financing arrangement will allow African poultry companies to use new hatchery equip-ment and services.

Novos Horizontes to use Pas Reform Hatchery Technologies’ equipment for new facility


Three companies have responded to the public tender launched by the Mozam-bican state stakeholding institute, Igepe in December 2017 to select a strategic

partner to recover the Chókwè Agro-indus-trial Complex (CAIC), the Mozambican press reported.

The CAIC, which cost Mozambican taxpayers US$60 million, financed by a loan from the Ex-port Import Bank of China, “currently produces almost nothing, and is only a burden on the

state coffers, which has to secure the wages of workers and the costs related to the mainte-nance of machinery.”

The Mediafax newspaper quoted Raimundo Matule, the managing director of Igepe, as say-ing that after the launch of the public tender, the Institute was contacted by several compa-nies in January and February, and only three of them, whose identity was kept confidential, submitted proposals.

The three companies, Matule continued, are now in a second phase where they will have to submit technical and financial proposals, and this stage is expected to end on 23 March.

CAIC, located in Gaza province, southern Mo-zambique and inaugurated in 2015 by Presi-dent Filipe Nyusi, has never been able to pro-duce more than 12% of its installed capacity, and despite having the necessary machinery to process rice, tomato and cashew, it has never received enough raw materials from farmers to do so.

Three companies interested in recovering Mozambican agro-industrial complex


The World Bank will contribute US$80 million to the Irrigation and Market Ac-cess Project for Farmers (Irriga), starting in July in central and northern Mozam-

bique, a representative of the institution an-nounced.

“With the development of irrigation, producers are no longer dependent on the rainy season to produce,” and with climate change, “it is im-portant to stimulate production in all seasons,”

said World Bank official Aniceto Bila, on a visit to the centre of the country, quoted by Mo-zambican state news agency AIM.

The amount will be disbursed over six years and is expected to cover an area of 7,000 hect-ares and to benefit 14,000 farmers to support the expansion and development of irrigation to increase production and income of the families covered by the project.

Bila was speaking during a visit to Vanduzi,

Manica province, to evaluate another initiative, in the same area, the Sustainable Irrigation Development Project (Proirri), which allowed for the cultivation of 2,500 hectares of land in seven years.

The first phase of this initiative runs until De-cember, aiming to reach 3,000 hectares of land.

Proirri is budgeted at US$74.25 million, fi-nanced 80% by the World Bank, the remainder being donated by the government of Japan.

World Bank funds new agricultural irrigation programme in Mozambique

Agribank has secured $10 million from the Egypt-based African Export-Im-port Bank (Afreximbank), which will be channelled towards capacitating agri-

cultural exporters and value addition

The bank's chief executive officer Mr Sam Mal-aba, told delegates during last week's annual general meeting that the sourcing of the funds is part of efforts to deepen Agribank's support for agriculture.

"As part of efforts to expand support to agricul-ture, the bank has secured US$10 million from Afreximbank to support exporters, agro-pro-cessors and value addition," said Mr Malaba.

Government is actively supporting exporters in an attempt to generate more foreign currency.

Zimbabwe is battling foreign currency shortag-es, which have seen some companies delaying to get raw materials and/ or spare parts from other countries due to delays in approving for-eign payments.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is responsible for approving foreign payments in a bid to fa-cilitate payments only for critical raw materials required by industry, fuel and electricity.

Recently, the central bank said it was allocating up to $90 million for fuel imports per month, making a strong case for exporters to up their game and generate more foreign currency.

Agribank is also in "advanced stages of nego-tiations" with a regional financier to secure a $50 million line of credit to support agriculture.

Mr Malaba said expectations are high that the transaction would be "finalised within the next two months".

Once the line of credit is clinched, it would be a major fillip for farmers who have been facing funding challenges, particularly as preparations for the 2018/2019 summer cropping season gather momentum.

Added Mr Malaba: "The bank will widen sup-port to agriculture in line with the thrust and focus on agriculture recovery by Government.

"The bank will expand both on balance sheet and off balance sheet lending for crops and livestock."

Agribank also intends to raise agro-bills and secure lines of credit for agriculture interven-tions including support to fertiliser, chemicals and seed companies.

The bank is expected to announce that it will be raising $40 million through agro-bills for the 2018/ 2019 cropping season once "regulatory processes" have been completed.

This will be a 100 percent jump from the current level of $20 million.

Agriculture remains the mainstay of the coun-try's economy as reflected through its contri-

bution to food security, job creation and for-eign currency generation. The Zanu-PF 2018 manifesto recognises the centrality of agricul-ture in the country.

The revolutionary party says if it wins the July 30 harmonised elections, its Government will "promote inclusive development" given that agriculture provides livelihoods to over 70 per-cent of the population in the rural areas, most of whom are women and youths.

Zanu-PF's manifesto says productivity in the sector has been hampered by lack of security of tenure, limited access to sustainable financ-ing, the adverse effects of climate change, constrained access to markets and inadequate skills among some farmers.

The party wants to transform the peoples' live-lihoods through agriculture by consolidating land ownership and security of tenure; broad-ening access to land by all citizens; widening access to agricultural finance and inputs; pro-moting productivity enhancing support sys-tems and infrastructure; and developing mar-kets for products to earn foreign currency.

Zanu-PF promises to provide free inputs for the next five years under the Presidential In-put Support Scheme for maize, soyabeans and cotton to vulnerable households.

The sector is also expected to create jobs, which is yet another aspiration of a Zanu-PF Government after polls

Agribank of Zimbabwe Secures $10m for Agric


Fredrick Toendepi is not an ordinary 25-year-old. He is a young person who believes in taking an active part in serious economic activities, especially in agricul-

ture.

At his age, he proudly holds 50 percent shares in their family business, Nightridge Ventures (Private) Limited.

If he had taken the easy path, Toendepi would have slid into the company system like many who are born into families that run small-scale enterprises.

In his description of the business he joint-ly owns, Toendepi said; "Nightridge Ventures handles export operations for domestic com-panies that want to sell their products overseas, but doesn't know how (and perhaps doesn't want to know how). The Nightridge Ventures does it all -- hiring dealers, distributors and representatives; handling advertising, market-ing and promotions; overseeing marking and packaging; arranging to ship."

An Internet light bulb hit Toendepi in 2014 when he was surfing leisurely.

"In 2014, I came across Chinese online retail-er Alibaba. The business model and how they exploit the global market impressed me. A few days later I made my first online purchase of 40 pairs of ladies shoes for resale. From that time the desire to grow in export and import business began to develop in me.

"I researched more about the business. A few months down the line I was helping manufac-turing companies, retail shops and individuals to import from China and later other coun-tries," he said.

In February 2017, he brought the export di-mension to their family business which had been focusing mainly on imports since 2007.

"We help farmers export edible nuts, ground nuts and macadamia. We have helped about 15 clients to date, averaging five tonnes, most of them come from areas like Gokwe and Chi-pinge," Toendepi said.

Their entry into the international trading space has brought lessons to the marketing manage-ment major.

"In 2016, I realised that Zimbabwean products

have huge markets in the SADC, COMESA as well as the EU. Exporting has better revenue once you are established. The initial stages are difficult, but worth trying. Exports are key in bringing much-needed foreign currency," Toendepi said.

He argues, Government has a role to play in ensuring that import and export markets grow.

"Foreign markets are highly competitive and demand products that meet global standards. Because of that, it is expensive to start export-ing. It would help if the Government is involved in capacitating young exporters with skills and loans. We acknowledge how ZimTrade is try-ing," he said.

He added; "Foreign currency is a challenge and the process of registering a company is too long and expensive. The Government should make it possible for one to register (a compa-ny) online from anywhere in the world."

Toendepi also suggests that SMEs need tax in-centives and tax breaks.

Currently, their company employs 10 perma-nent staffers.

Giving Zimbabwean Farmers Room to Export


Case for Decolonising Agric Value Chains in Africa

Identifying and explaining each agricultural value chain's nodes is a better way of reveal-ing the extent to which a value chain can lift people out of poverty and contribute to

broader development aspirations.

The longer the value chain, the more contri-bution to socio-economic development. Most agricultural commodities produced by small-holder farmers are characterised by very short value chains, although there is potential to lengthen such value chains. Some of these val-ue chains have remained short due to structur-al reasons such as lack of local value addition technologies and related resources. As a result, farmers end up producing small quantities for the local community and spot markets.

Another reason that prevents value chains from lengthening is lack of information about potential markets including the size of partic-ular markets, requirements and levels of com-petition.

This is often the case for indigenous commod-ities like goats, sheep, indigenous chickens, rabbits and many others. Since formal and concrete markets for these commodities have not been cultivated in many countries, the val-ue chains only extend to the local community. Opportunities for extending these value chains include setting up abattoirs for goats and appropriate technology for processing small grains in rural production areas.

Lengthening value chains through val-ue addition

Unfortunately, national policies in most African countries seem to support milling industries for maize, wheat and abattoirs for large animals like cattle at the expense of supporting the production and purchasing of small stock and small grains.

Lip service also continues to be paid to the de-velopment of value added products from small stock, small grains and commodities like sug-ar bean, cow peas and sweet potatoes whose value chains continue to be from the field to the pot.

Instead of letting these commodities con-

sumed in a raw state, ways of extending the value chains through developing processed products and other multiple uses to move away from raw consumption are long over-due. There is also scope for combining these commodities with other products to produce diverse food blends.

The story of non-consumables

Some commodities produced in African coun-tries like Malawi and Zimbabwe have shorter value chains because they are non-consum-ables, for instance, tobacco. Although praised for bringing foreign currency, tobacco travels from the farmer, straight to the auction floor with no other value added service at the farm.

Grading and baling cannot be called value ad-dition in the true sense. Tobacco has only one market in the form of an auction floor with no other market at community, district or provin-cial levels for products to be extracted from the crop.

In addition, tobacco does not even have a meaningful urban consumer base given that, in the case of Zimbabwe, only 2 percent is smoked locally.

The product only comes back mostly as im-ported cigarettes and chemical derivatives, produced by the end buyer or tobacco pro-cessor. Farmers do not participate in the most lucrative tobacco value addition processes. Ex-porting companies and big buyers like China are the ones who value add and reap more benefits from finished products. Farmers do not have a mechanism for semi-processing at source (in farming areas) -- which is an import-ant stage.

As if that is not enough, many African countries such as Burkina Faso, Malawi and Zimbabwe have been producing cotton for close to hun-dred years but there are still no simple tech-nologies for separating cotton seed from lint at local level.

Weaving cotton into yarn and cloths should be happening in production areas like Gokwe and Muzarabani districts of Zimbabwe. Absence of appropriate intermediate processing tech-

nology means cotton remains a colonial crop that African countries have failed to turn into a more powerful economic driver for local com-munities.

Situations where, after the delivering lint to companies, farmers stop participating in the value chain are not sustainable. When compa-nies buy cotton lint and disappear, it is difficult to talk of a cotton value chain. Keeping some cotton value chain nodes secretive from farm-ers implies cotton is not a real value chain.

How lack of technology shortens value chains

Due to absence of appropriate value addition technologies, some commodities with poten-tial for developing long value chains are con-signed to short and sporadic value chains. For instance, there is potential to process tomatoes into tomato paste, puree, sauce and powder. But absence of technology along the value chain from community level, district or provin-cial level means tomato has a short value chain for most farmers. The tomato moves from the farmer to the consumer, with the trader in the middle.

When the tomato moves from the farmer to the consumer through the trader, what hap-pens cannot be called value-addition.

It is the same tomato changing hands with mark ups just catering for handling, repackag-ing and reaching out to the next level of cus-tomers. Ultimately, the tomato does not get the best returns on its investment as it is consumed before reaching the peak of its expected po-tential or value at each value chain node.

If the tomato farmer is able to semi-process, she/he can earn 30 percent more value. At the end of the day, a box of tomatoes will cost three times the price shared along the value chain.

Currently, the end processor is the one who earns most of the value which is not shared. The processor does semi-processing, preser-vation, packaging, wholesaling, distribution and retailing. Ideally, most of these activities should be distributed along the value chain, generating more value for actors and Value


Added Tax for the fiscus.

The same applies to fruits

African smallholder farmers who grow fruits like oranges, bananas, guavas and mango are often surprised to see their fruits emerging on the other end as fruit juice or yoghurt when the farmers will have exited early on at the begin-ning of the value chain. The farmers become by-standers who stop participating in the ben-efits that accrue to their commodities.

It appears the existing food processing and val-ue addition system is based on a pre-colonial business model that was designed to prevent knowledge transfer along value chains so that farmers do not know what happens to their product after they have supplied it and been paid peanuts.

The same products come back to rural retail grocery shops. Where a farmer would have been paid $3/box of mango, $30 worth of mango juice comes back on the shelves of local retail stores. The farmer as a consumer is now forced to look for money in order to be able to by a product whose raw commodities she/he produced.

How the problem extends to livestock

Crop and livestock farmers are struggling to buy stock feed when they could semi-process soya bean and sell crude oil for finished oil production while they remain with stock feed unlike following it in urban centres where the price will be much higher.

There should be technology for farmers to semi-process soya bean into crude oil and re-main with stock feed at community level. Such semi-processing can easily happen at source. Of the $780/tonne being offered for raw soya bean, how much refined oil and by-products will come from a tonne of soya bean?

There is also no sensible reason why abattoirs are in urban centres when they should be in livestock production areas. It should just be a question of setting standards and cold chain so that slaughtering happens at source, for in-stance at cattle sales pens.

This will create employment at local level and spawn other industries like leather tanning. If cattle are transported from Insiza to Bulawayo, employment is created in Bulawayo, with farm-ers going back to continue herding cattle.

Absence of processing technology and ca-pacity is one of the main reasons why African countries are beset by rural to urban migration.

People are following raw commodities from their rural areas and congregating at process-ing companies looking for employment. These people should be semi-processing their com-modities at community, district and provincial levels, earning more income from their com-modities.

In addition to decentralising entrepreneurship, value addition at source will de-congest cities. When value addition happens in farming areas, most of the income from value addition activi-ties will be retained at source.

On the other hand, when everyone goes to ur-ban centres where value addition takes place, 90 percent of the cash ends up circulating in urban centres as people who earn income spend it in cities. Most of these activities should be happening at community, district and pro-vincial levels.

Need for passing on value chains

The colonial industrial institution has to be transformed. African economies have not de-veloped a sustainable culture of passing on value chains to the next stage.

All value chain activities are locked in one co-lonial system. Yet in the Western world, a car manufacturer does not manufacture all vehicle parts. He can only be a car assembly plant with parts coming from different parts of the coun-try and the world.

Poor attention to rural industrialisation is one of the reasons African countries are failing to tap into the resource base and expertise in rural areas.

Pressure is exerted on urban processing fac-tories as employees pass on costs to the em-ployer in the form of rentals, transport to work, transport for children to school and other costs.

If processing industries are set up in farming communities, rural areas and growth points, enterprises will be within walking distance for most employees and that reduces pressure on processing companies and utilities like water, electricity as well as road networks.

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