THE Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) has facilitated training of small-holder farmers on value addition and product diversification to help them to get more value from their produce.

In an interview with Southern Eye, BVTA monitoring and evaluation officer Langton Moyo said it was essential for small-holder farmers to learn ways to increase profitability of their businesses.

“We saw that it was very essential for small-holder farmers to learn all the right skills in order to properly run their businesses to facilitate the attainment of maximum benefits,” Moyo said.

“They were provided with the knowledge and skills needed to increase the value of their products, which can lead to increased profits.” Moyo said the value addition training would help small-holder farmers to diversify their incomes.

“Moreover, value addition training empowered farmers to be able to make informed decisions about their businesses, leading to long-term sustainability,” he said.

BVTA executive director Michael Ndiweni said the project was being spearheaded by the Local Government and Public Works ministry under the Building Urban Resilience in Zimbabwe project.

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 “Farmers are welcoming the project because it is going to help them to deal with a lot of disenfranchisement that usually happens in private markets where the pricing of their products is not determined by them but by private market owners, therefore is a public market and at least they will be in control of the pricing of their own goods,” he said.

Farmers were not being paid timeously for their produce with the government committing to expedite payment.

Weather forecasters predict below to average rains amid fears of a climate change-induced El Nino phenomenon.