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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Manicaland Bureau
Government, through Agritex, has partnered Care International to improve the quality of bananas produced in Rusitu Valley, Chimanimani, and boost revenues for the farmers.

Rusitu Valley is one of the country’s biggest banana producing areas and sustains hundreds of small-scale farmers who have grown the crop since time immemorial.

A major chunk of the crop was affected by mudslides that occurred during Cyclone Idai-induced floods in March last year.

The floods flattened a significant number of trees and uprooted some, and in most cases, it washed away the fertile top soil which affected the quality of the crop being produced.

Bananas being the biggest revenue earner for the small-scale farmers in the area, this will have far reaching consequences on their incomes.

Chimanimani Agritex officer Mr Shupai Majee told The Herald that the initiative with Care International would not only restore the livelihoods of the farmers but would also improve the cultivars and varieties of the bananas being produced in the Valley.

Funding for the initiative is part of an input support scheme being rolled out by the NGO towards the current maize crop, other perennial crops and fruit trees in Chimanimani.

“We proposed that we should not just put the people back to where they were in terms of banana production but we should improve the varieties they were using,” said Mr Majee.

“We want to introduce tissue culture bananas into the district. This is a genetic improvement meant to enhance the variety of bananas.”

Mr Majee said the technology was first introduced in Honde Valley some years ago with proven results on its efficacy.

Honde Valley has become the biggest producer of quality bananas from smallholder farmers in the country.

Mr Majee said the new variety had been imported from South Africa.

“They came from SA and we propagated them at Claremont orchards in Nyanga before we started distributing them,” he said.

“If you look at the bananas in Honde valley right now, most of them are this variety. So we plan to take those and bring them here (to Rusitu).”