A Zimbabwean blueberries farmer, Bob Henson, says he is expecting to export between 1 000 to 1 200 tonnes of blueberries from this year going forward.
Blueberries are a horticultural crop highly suitable to Zimbabwean soils, climate and conditions and a kilogramme can cost as high as US$6.
Henson, who owns Ivanhoe Farm in Goromonzi, Mashonaland East, and is DripTech managing director, said:
This crop costs about US$100 000 per hectare to plant and it will yield that much foreign currency every year going forward.
This year we are expecting to export between 1 000 to 1 200 tonnes of blueberries.
The total Zimbabwean production is 5 000 tonnes and we export to Russia and the Middle East, but most of our exports go to a company in the United Kingdom for distribution across Europe.
On average a kilogramme costs between US$2.50 and US$6 depending on demand.
We have created 1 000 jobs and we want to repeat the same model across the country because we want to work with communities.
More: The Herald