FARMERS from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) say they want to establish partnerships with inputs and agriculture implements manufacturers in Zimbabwe.
The farmers, under the banner of the Pamlu Farmers Union, were in Zimbabwe last week to follow up on contacts made during a ZimTrade outward seller mission to Lubumbashi a few weeks ago.
Pamlu Farmers Union vice president Baudouin Mukinda said the DRC, whose agriculture activities remain relatively low, offered exciting opportunities for the entire Zimbabwean agriculture value chain.
“We came here to meet Zimbabwean farmers, exchange experiences and obviously see what they are doing here. We are about 100 big-scale farmers and another 500 families that are also involved in farming. The association was formed in 2019,” Mukinda told The Financial Gazette in Harare.
“A very big need we have is for seed. We have been disappointed previously. We were getting seed and fertiliser which were not appropriate for our soil. So, this was giving us very bad results.
The DRC delegation visited a number of agro-based industries including seed manufacturer Seed Co, who were part of the ZimTrade visit to DRC.
“When we went to DRC we wanted to see how we could engage our brothers and sisters in that country, especially in vegetable production. They have been focusing more on imports and mining is the main activity in that country,” SeedCo Vegetables key stakeholder manager Masimba Kanyepi said.
“We expect to capacitate the farmers in DRC, especially with the new technologies in seed varieties. We would like them to adopt these hybrid varieties, especially in vegetables as well as field crops such as maize.
“We would also want to make sure that they don’t just jump into production. We would like to equip them so that we don’t take chances when it comes to productivity issues.
“As Seed Co we value support and advisory services. It is part of our role. We want to make sure that all our varieties are in DRC.
“The climatic conditions are almost the same as ours. In fact, they are sitting on fertile soils, and good rains. You are looking at eight months of rainfall annually but they need technical know-how for producing crops.”
ZimTrade export promotion officer Alex Mutandi expressed confidence in the potential of the DRC market for Zimbabwean products and businesses.
“In line with ZimTrade’s mandate to promote exports from Zimbabwe, we took companies to DRC to explore opportunities in that market.
“We were looking at processed foods and other FMCG products, agriculture implements, PPEs from the clothing industry, engineering services inclusive of mining supplies and consumables,” Mutandi said.
“They will also visit companies that supply agriculture implements. We also need to note that there are also opportunities in agriculture investment in DRC for Zimbabweans. The DRC is encouraging investments in that area.”