On Monday 2 December 2019, ZimTrade, the national trade development and promotion organisation of Zimbabwe, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with PUM, a Netherlands-based volunteer organisation for retired experts and executives.
The MoU will pave way for successful implementation of the Best Model Farm Project, which is meant to grow horticultural exports from small scale farmers in Zimbabwe.
The Best Model Farm Project was launched in January 2019, with ZimTrade and PUM collaborating with three medium-sized farms from Mashonaland East and West and Midlands Provinces.
Under the four-year pilot project, the three farms will be capacitated to on-board small-scale farmers as their outgrowers.
The project, which will be replicated in other provinces across the country, is designed to improve market access for small scale farmers and grow their contribution towards export earnings.
The signed MoU will cover collaboration on infrastructure improvements on identified farms, technical skills development, logistics management and market development.
The diversification of horticultural export products from selected regions will also be covered under the MoU.
This is the second MoU signed between ZimTrade and PUM, with the first signed in April 2016.
The Netherlands Government, through its Embassy in Harare is one of the key partners for this initiative and will offer financial support towards operationalisation of the MoU.
As part of this farm model program, PUM organised a PUM business link mission to the Netherlands for the model farm owners. This took place on the 11th to the 17th of November 2019. The objective was to increase exports from Zimbabwe to the Netherlands and vice-versa.
A full program were meetings were organised with potential buyers and suppliers, as well as visits to Dutch companies to learn on ocean and freight handling and fruit logistics.
See below for a breakdown of meeting themes.
For more info
rmation
ZimTrade
www.tradezimbabwe.com