prika is affecting production, which fell from 14,000 tonnes in 2003 to 685 tonnes in 2010.Zimbabwe Farmers Union crop officer, Simbarashe Muchena, told Zimbabwe's New Ziana news agency that production of paprika had declined over the past decade due to downsizing or closure of agro-processing companies.
"Buyers used to engage farmers on contracts and provide them with the necessary support to produce paprika," he said.
Full statistics on the crop's production was also not available due to unavailability of a standardised system to track its performance. "The crop is in the private sector hence it is difficult to track performance at the national level. Government statistics do not have full data on the crop unlike other cash crops," Muchena said.
At one point, Zimbabwe was the third largest exporter of paprika, competing with major producers such as India and China. Agro-processing firm Cairns Foods was one of the major players in paprika production, assisting more than 13,000 farmers with inputs under its out-grower scheme.
The Zimbabwe government has identified the agriculture sector as key in boosting economic regeneration and growth and crops like paprika can help achieve that goal.
