Chiredzi market Commodity Prices

Vegetables🥬🥦
– Covo: $0.50 per bundle
– Rape: $0.50 per bundle
– Tsunga: $0.50 per bundle
– Chomolia: $1 per bundle
– Cabbage (white): $1 (big head) & $0.50 small head
– Spinach: $0.50 per bundle
– Lettuce: $0.50each
– Marrow: not available
– Coriander: $0.50 per bunch
– Parsley: $1 per bunch
– Cauliflower: $3 per kg
– Okra (fresh): $10 per 20L bucket or $2 per tin
– Okra leaf (derere remashizha): ❌❌
– Pumpkin leaves (Muboora): $1 cup
– Mushroom (fresh) : ❌❌
– Cowpeas leaves (Munyemba):$1 cup
– African Spider leaves (Nyevhe): $1 cup
– Mutsine (Black jack)$1 cup
– Amaranth (Imbuya/Mudongi)✅

High-Value Crops🍅🫑🌶️
– Green pepper: $13 per crate & $1 for 4
– Red & Yellow pepper: $13 per crate $1 for 2
– Fine beans: $10 per crate
– Cucumber: $25 per crate
– Eng cucumber: $1 for 2 or 3
– Horned cucumber: $1
– Carrots: $60 per sack
– Beetroot: $10 per 10kg
– Onions (white, king): $10 per 10 kg pocket
– Onion (red, king): $10 per 10 kg pocket..$1 for 2
– Onion (shallots): $1 per bundle
– Eggplant: $1 for 2
– Chilli pepper: $1per tswanda
– Garlic (bulbs): $45 per sack
– Ginger (bulbs): $5 per kg
– Cherry tomato: $1 per trey
– Tomatoes: $20 crate
– Maize corn: $5 per dozen
– Green Pumpkin/mapudzi: $1 for 8
– Wild melon/ mashamba: $1- $2 depending on size
– Butternut: $38 per sack

Tubers🥔🥔
– Potatoes 15 kg pocket: $14
– Potatoes 10kg pocket: $10 or $8
– Sweet potatoes: $6 per 20L bucket

Dried Foods🥜🫘🥜
– Matemba: $50 per 20L bucket
– Madora/Macimbi/Mopane worms (dried): $50 per 20L bucket & $1/20 rand per cup
– Fish (small, dried): $1 for 4
– Fish (big, dried): $1 for 3
– Soya chunks: $3 per 5kg packet
– Impwa: 1 rand
– Nzimbe/ Sugarcane: 5 rand
– Mufushwa munyemba: $10 per 20L bucket
– Mufushwa nyevhe: $15 per 20L bucket
– Mufushwa covo: $5 per 20L bucket
– Mufushwa mutsine: $5 per 20L bucket
– Mufushwa derere remashizha: $3 per 20L bucket

*Poultry*🪿🦈🐓🦃🐇
– Chicken (broilers): $6
– Indigenous chicken (hen): $8
– Indigenous (cocks): $10
– Iso brown: $5 off layers
– Turkey: $15-20
– Ducks: $5 / 6
– Guinea Fowls (Hanga): $8
– Rabbit: $7

Fruits🍎🍋🟩🍇🍏
– Apples: $25 per large box
Naarjies : $1 for 8 depends on sizes
– Avocado: $1 per kg
– Umviyo: 10 rand per cup
– Pears: $3 per kg, $20 per box
– Plums: $20 Box
– Grapes: $25 per box, $2 per satchet
– Small berryfinger leaf/ tsubvu: $5per 20L bucket
– Pineapples: $1 depends on sizes
– Oranges: $5 per 10kg packet
– Zunga: $2
– Bananas: $1 for 15
– Mawuyu (shelled): $3 per 20L bucket
– Nyiii: $10 per 20L bucket

❌❌Unavailable❌❌
– Mango (big)✅
– Mango (sweet)✅
– Mugwadi✅
– Emkemeswane/Matamba✅ go
– Matofi✅
– Udlawuzo/Shumha✅

Grain🥔
– Fresh groundnuts/nzungu: $10 per 20L bucket
– Bambara groundnuts/Nyimo: $10
– White maize: $6 per 20L bucket
– Yellow maize: $6 per 20L bucket
– Sorghum/Mhunga: $7 per 20L bucket
– Rukweza/ Finger millet: $30 per 20L bucket

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Taking a closer look at poultry farming

1. Breed with Purpose
Decide what you want: eggs or meat. Different types of chickens grow and perform differently.
Some grow faster for meat, others lay more eggs.
Choose the right type for your goal. Don’t just raise chickens – raise value.
2. Feed Is an Investment, Not an Expense
Cheap feed leads to poor growth and weak birds.
Use balanced feed rich in protein, calcium, vitamins, and utano (nutrition).
Good feed = healthy chickens = better profits.
3. Keep Records – Your Farm is a Business
Write down everything:
How much you spend on chicks
How much feed you use per day
Any birds that die
How much money you make
No records = no business.
If you don’t know your numbers, you won’t know if you’re making money — or losing it.
4. Biosecurity – Keep It Clean, Keep It Safe
Use footbaths at the entrance of the poultry house
Limit visitors
Clean water and feed containers daily
Disinfect the space regularly
Sick chickens will ruin your profits. Prevention is cheaper than cure.
5. Market First, Grow Later
Don’t raise chickens and then look for buyers.
Find your market before you even buy chicks.
Talk to butcheries, restaurants, neighbors, small shops. Use WhatsApp, Facebook, even posters.
Raising chickens without a ready buyer is like cooking a feast with no guests – you’ll be full… of regrets

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GARIKAYI MARKET- MASVINGO PRICES

Tomatoes $18 box
Cabbage $0.85 per head
Beans$28 bucket
Green pepper $9 crate
Red and yellow $9 crate
Cucumber $20
Fine beans$12
Eggplant $1.50
Garlic $6kg
Ginger$6 kg
Rape$1 for 3
Covo$1 for 2
Tsunga$1 for 3
Spinach $1 for 2
Lettuce $1
Cauliflower $3.50
Derere$7
Muboora ❌
Mutsine ❌
MuNyevhe $8
Munyemba $7
Manhanga ❌
Potatoes $10
Sweet potatoes $5.50
Magogoya$1 for 4
Nzungu $6
Nyemba$8
Fresh maize$1 for5
Sugar cane$1for4
Banana $12 crate
Avocado $1 for6
Narjies $1 for20
Tsubvu$5 bucket
Orange $4 pocket
Grapes$25
Apples $20
Lemon$1for15
Rukweza $20
MUPUNGA $40 bucket
Mhunga $8 bucket
Mapfunde $7
Sunflower $8 bucket
Chibage$6
Butternut $7 pocket
Watermelon ❌
Soya chunks $2.50
Poultry feed$5
Chicken $6
Tsuro $6
HARUGWA $40 TIN
madora$80
Magandari $45
Matemba$300

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NEDZIWA FARMERS MARKET ASSOCIATION- CHIMANIMANI:21 May 2025

Avocado’s $6 bucket
Lemon $3dollars bucket
Sugar beans nua$30 bucket
Michgan beans $25 bucket
Dried cabbages $1packet 500g
Dried black jack $1packet 500g
Ďried tsunga $1packet 500g
Dried munyemba $1packet 500g
Dried mushrooms $1packet 500g

Baobab coffee $1 bottle 500g
Moringa powder $1packet 150g
Baobab powder $1packet 150g
Zumbani powder $1packet 150g
Mubvee powder $5 500g bottle
Honey bottled $3 500g
Honey wax $3 500g
Honey wax $10 1kg

Kenyan croton nursery tree $1each
Paw Paw nursery tree $1each
Mango nursery tree $1each
Mutohwe nursery tree $1each
Mahogany nursery tree $3dollars each
Baobab nursery tree $1each
Granadilla nursery tree $2dollars each
Coral vine bee forage nursery tree $2
Hwiziya bee forage tree $2dollars each
Juranda bee forage nursery tree $2dollars each

Bee hives $35 each
Black sandak $12 each empty ones.
Liquid fertiliser 5litres $20 each

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Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), Mhunga

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), Mhunga, is a highly valuable dual-purpose crop. Its exceptional drought tolerance makes it one of the most resilient grains, thriving in arid and semi-arid conditions where other crops may fail.

The grain serves as a nutritious food source for humans, while its leafy biomass and sturdy stems provide excellent fodder for livestock. After the grain harvest, the remaining stover can be used as dry-season feed, silage, or bedding material.

This efficient integration supports both crop and livestock productivity, enhancing farm resilience and optimizing resource use.

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How much does Honde Valley contribute to Zimbabwe’s GDP?

By Charles Dhewa

If you had avocadoes for breakfast this morning, chances are that the fruit came from Mt Selinda or Honde Valley in Manicaland.

From April to October every year, at least twenty 15-ton trucks bring avocadoes from Honde Valley to Mbare market daily.

The same number of trucks brings bananas from Honde Valley. An equal number of trucks brings sugar cane from Honde Valley to Mbare market every day, a distance of 320km if the produce comes from major production zones like Sagambe.

Each 15-ton truck carries 80-90 bags of either avocadoes or banana, each weighing 90 kilograms.

If you do your maths, how many metric tons of avocadoes and banana come to Harare from Honde Valley every month for seven months of the year?

We are not even mentioning quantities going to Chitungwiza, Marondera, Mutare, Masvingo, Gweru and Bulawayo.

A 90kg bag of avocadoes is so heavy that women cannot lift it and have to hire labour from men which increases the cost of marketing for women.

Transport and ripening infrastructure

Although the terrain in Honde Valley is not friendly for drivers, the roads are not too bad compared to other production zones.

However, farmers are not happy about the cost of transport. Transporters are charging USD10 to transport each 90kg bag from Honde to Mbare market and, depending on the consumer buying power on the day, a bag of avocadoes is bought for USD80-95 while bananas go for USD60-70/90kg.

The fruits are mostly brought to Mbare in an unripe state for ripening at the market in makeshift cardboard boxes.

In three to four days, the fruits are ready for consumption. Proper ripening facilities are badly needed at the market to avert losses and ensure food safety.

Sugar cane

A 15-ton truck carries 330-dozens of sugar cane from Honde Valley to Mbare at USD3-4/dozen transport cost.

Depending on demand and consumer buying power, a dozen can go for USD7-9 at Mbare.

That means more than half of the income that should be earned by farmers is consumed by transport costs.

Because sugar cane is 98% water, it would be cost-effective to transport via rail if it was available.

According to Aleck Ruwanza and other sugar cane farmers from Honde Valley, policy makers should intervene so that transport costs are reduced in favour of farmers who are working very hard to feed the nation and create employment.

What is the value of our production corridors?

Monitoring and tracking the movement of agricultural commodities from high production corridors like Honde Valley, Burma Valley, Rusitu Valley, Mazowe Valley, Enterprise Valley and many other areas like Umguza, Mt Selinda, Kezi and even dry areas like Binga can reveal their true potential and contribution to GDP.

For an agriculture-driven economy like Zimbabwe, these are the kinds of conversations that should be discussed in cabinet, parliament, media and educational institutions.

Charles@knowledgetransafrica.com / charles@emkambo.co.zw / info@knowledgetransafrica.com Website: www.emkambo.co.zw / www.knowledgetransafrica.com Mobile: 0772 137 717/ 0774 430 309/0712737430

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Sorghum: A Key Crop for Zimbabwe’s Climate Resilience

Sorghum stands out for its exceptional drought and heat tolerance, thanks to its deep root system, waxy leaves, and ability to survive under minimal water conditions, making it ideal for arid and semi-arid regions.

It’s C4 photosynthetic pathway gives it high water- and nitrogen-use efficiency, allowing it to grow where other cereals struggle.

Beyond being a staple food for millions—providing grain for porridge, flatbreads, and brewing—sorghum is also valuable as livestock fodder, biofuel feedstock, and an industrial raw material.

Requiring low inputs of fertilizer and pesticides, it offers smallholder farmers a sustainable, cost-effective option in the face of climate change.

As global temperatures rise and rainfall patterns become unpredictable, sorghum is not a poor man’s crop—it’s a smart farmer’s solution for food security, profitability, and resilience.

For farmers seeking sustainable systems, sorghum is a key ally in adapting to and mitigating the impacts of climate change.

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Tips on tree planting

Onions should be planted on loose soils to enable bulb growth and soils with good drainage system. Too much water is not good for the onion plants. Make ridges after ploughing. Farmers may use organic manure together with granular fertilizers. Good planting season is between June and September.

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Top dressing maize

Top dressing and weeding go together because the removal of unwanted competitive plants is very important so that the fertilizer granules that boost the Nitrogen, which should be placed at the base of the plant, are not taken up by the competing weeds which will limit yields

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