Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Vangelis Haritatos, has announced that the Horticultural Economic Advancement Program (HEAP) aims to integrate smallholder farmers into the commercial market. 

At the HEAP launch in Harare, Haritatos highlighted the government’s observation that many small-scale farmers show significant interest in horticulture.

He added that the HEAP programme is part of a strategy to establish 35,000 village business units nationwide.

“We’re using HEAP and other programmes that are coming from government to ensure that the hub and spoke model works, aggregation works, so that the farmers on the ground not only sell produce to the local village, to the city or the town that they live nearby, but also to be able to have access to international markets,” he said.

Haritatos added that Zimbabwe has an advantage in horticulture as it is a small country with good weather conditions.

“We are only 16 million people; we have access to water. So, putting those benefits together as one, we can tap into regional and international markets to increase the domestic trade,” he said.

He emphasised the government’s aim to cultivate a more structured agricultural sector. This initiative seeks to empower smallholder farmers, enabling them to flourish in domestic and global markets.

“Horticulture holds the potential to contribute up to $2.5 billion to our economy,” he stated, highlighting its significant positive impact. He added that this great potential stems from the ongoing efforts of our farmers, which will now be channelled through a more organised approach.

Source: allAfrica

Image Credit: Business Day