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Nyasha Mapasa Manicaland Correspondent
FARMERS in Manicaland have been urged to use certified seeds in   groundnuts production to attain high yields for export.

Manicaland provincial Agritex officer Mrs Phillipa Rwambiwa said it was important for the country to produce its own groundnut seed varieties to enable it to tap into the lucrative foreign markets.

“We have not been able to supply the foreign market because our farmers use retained seed instead of certified seed,” she said. “This hinders production in that farmers end up supplying for the local market only and the other crop that was supposed to be exported is then reserved for seeding in the next season.”

Zimbabwe has a few seed companies that produce groundnut seeds as most farmers rely on retained seeds.

Mrs Rwambiwa urged farmers to increase groundnuts production because not only is it a traditional crop, but it also has a good market if properly invested into. “Groundnuts are one of our traditional crops and they are currently being produced at a small scale, with some farmers only producing for their families,” she said.

“Investing more into this crop will restore its value as a cash crop.”

Buhera, Makoni and Nyanga North remain the leading producers of groundnuts in Manicaland, with most of the producers being-small scale farmers.