Regional Markets

Regional Markets for Local Development
in banana marketing more easily. Previously they simply could not afford to spend the 10
days required for taking their bananas to distant markets like Harare, where they ripen
and are sold. Venturing to faraway markets was therefore a men’s domain. The new situation
of farm gate and nearby markets sales has led to increased participation of women
in the banana chain and subsequently to their enhanced involvement in the association.
Agronomic extension
The smallholders were constrained by the low quality of their produce and their low
productivity (which was only one-fourth of that realised by the larger producers). A
local level partnership organised by SNV, involving Agritex, CBT, HVSDC (Honde
Valley Smallholder Development Company) and the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Unions
Project, started to train farmers in best practices in banana production at ten demonstration
sites. SNV hired a specialist in commercial banana production, who coordinated
the local consortium. An estimated total of 3,000 banana smallholders were
trained, which included farmers not affiliated with the associations. Demand for training
in the communities was so overwhelming that farmer associations were compelled
to organise more farmer-managed demonstration plots. The consortium also produced
an extension guide for lead farmers and extension staff. In a snow-ball effect, experimental
banana plots were also set-up by twenty-three local schools, earning them
around USD 500 per month. The demonstration plots in the community and at the
schools were successfully used for training farmers in best practices in banana production.
This banana campaign stimulated the farmers who had abandoned banana farming
to re-start their production, using the improved practices they learned. The total land
area planted with bananas increased by 30%. An elderly farmer described the unfolding
events as ‘a banana revolution’.
Market linkages
To facilitate smallholder access to the urban high-value market, SNV initiated the
bulking and grading of produce. Whereas the big market players were not interested
at the beginning, small and medium-sized companies were, and logistics coordination
mechanisms between the farmers and these purchasing companies were set up. This
involved establishing a system of collection centres, where lead farmers recorded and
graded the bananas. Smallholders developed confidence in their abilities to engage in
collective marketing. Around 1,500 smallholder banana producers reaped substantial
financial benefits from the scheme (partly because they were paid in foreign currency,
which helped them avoid the raging inflation of the Zimbabwe Dollar at that time).
The partnership with the Matanuska Company started with the signing of supply
agreements with smallholders. Next to providing training in improved farming prac-
74