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Daniel Chigunwe Herald Correspondent

For war veteran and Guruve farmer, the Covid-19 pandemic was a learning curve for the growth of his horticulture business through harnessing digital platforms to market his strawberry business.

Like all other businesses, locally and globally, Fellow Chivhenge’s strawberry farming business in Guruve has not been spared from the gruelling effects of the pandemic.

However, through an insight into digital marketing, he has managed to break new ground and is now on a fast recovery track.

A plate full of the strawberries that Mr Chivhenge produces

“The Covid-19 outbreak had serious repercussions for the Chivhenge Strawberry Farm, the first lockdown imposed in March 2020 severely restricted the movement of people, therefore, the restrictions meant that customers could not easily access the markets to buy our strawberries,” narrates the farmer.

Undaunted by the pandemic-induced challenges, Chivhenge who is also a renowned veteran of the liberation struggle said he has managed to embrace the internet in seeking new strawberry markets.

“With the easing of the lockdown conditions, we are now back in the fields and in order to restore and grow our strawberry farming business, we now have a digital presence with a goal to increase the number of our strawberry customers, and therefore, we have created a website.

“Through this website, our customers now have unrestricted online access and they can view our strawberry produce and prices from the comfort of their homes, we have also listed our business on Google My Business, it is an online tool that we are using to promote the strawberry business, it also has a map that gives customers directions to our farm,” explained the farmer.

Currently, boasting of 2000 plants of strawberry, Chivhenge said the growth in digital presence has seen a rising demand setting his target to 10000 plants in the coming season.

“We also feel obliged to leave no one and no place behind as we contribute to the economic growth of the Second Republic through strawberry farming in line with our President’s economic mantra,” added Chivhenge.