MATOBO villagers under Chief Bidi, Matabeleland South province, have started a project of collecting a variety of seeds for both wild and domestic melons after securing a donor who is assisting them to access European markets.
The villagers’ representative Sibikwaphi Sibanda said they started the project two years ago after discovering that there were a lot of wild fruits that could be tapped into through value addition.
“We started this project in 2022, by processing marula fruits, ximenia and melon seeds among other seeds from products mainly from the melon family,” Sibanda said.
“We registered villagers and put them in five groups ranging from 40 to 50 people per group after getting a donor known as Kavango-Zambezi-Natural Oils (Kaza). They are the ones who buy our products to export to the overseas market. We understand our products are good sources of oil products.’’ Sibanda said.
Sibanda added that a 1kg of Marula products goes for US$1,50.
“The project was born out of an exchange visit between our donor and some members of the international community who got interested in our products,” she said.
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“We have been promised by our donor that we will be given a bonus in the form of structures such as buildings after a certain period. People are now coming out in big numbers to join the project after realising that we are blessed with ximenia fruits, and it depends on someone’s commitment to make profit.”
A Kaza agent only identified as Nyasha refused to comment saying he needed clearance to speak to the media.