By Lungelo Ndhlovu | Thomson Reuters Foundation
GOKWE, Zimbabwe, Feb 15 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Before agronomist Peter Sena retired, he planted a variety of mango trees on his rural homestead in Zimbabwe’s Midlands province, aiming to ensure an ongoing income for his family.
This year, an unusually wet rainy season combined with coronavirus restrictions that closed down most of the markets in the country threatened to leave him with a bumper mango harvest – and nobody to sell it to.
But a new dried fruit processing centre, which opened in the nearby town of Gokwe in November last year, means Sena can save his mangoes from spoiling and turn them into a product that can be shipped to buyers around the country and abroad.