National export development and promotion agency ZimTrade is urging local growers to tap into the growing potential of organic produce markets. The agency said the current talk of drinking green tea and other responses to coronavirus reflect changing behaviours that are impacting on consumer trends globally. The agency noted that prices of healthy produce were also projected to go up, signalling better earnings for exporters who produce more.
Grand View Research estimated that the market size of healthy foods ('superfoods') in 2018 was $137 billion and projected a Compounded Annual Growth Rate of five percent for the 2019-2025 period.
Available data adds weight to this projection as world trade in most superfoods has been on an upward trend over the past few years.
Zimbabwe is a producer of various fruits such as pineapples, bananas, stone fruits, macadamia nuts, pecan nuts and these can be processed by drying or into puree for export purposes.
“Producers in Zimbabwe eyeing the international market, need to appreciate the demands by consumers and invest in value addition as well, as it not only earns them more money, but comes with innovations that consumers are looking for,” a ZimTrade source told newzimbabwe.com.