Zimbabwe Bans Fruits & Vegetable Imports

{{Zimbabwe has banned imports of fresh fruit and vegetables with immediate effect, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday, arguing that increased local production will meet domestic demand.}}

The ban will mostly impact supplies of tomatoes, potatoes, mangoes, grapes and apples from neighbouring South Africa, the ministry said in a statement.

South African fruit and vegetable exports to Zimbabwe are worth at least $1m a month, according to trade data.

Zimbabwe’s farming output, including from its staple maize crop, has slumped by over 60 percent since 2000.

Critics say President Robert Mugabe – in power since independence from Britain in 1980 – turned one of Africa’s most promising economies and a regional bread basket to a net importer of food.

But Mugabe’s Zanu-PF says the economy, which shrank by over 40 percent in the decade to 2009, had been sabotaged by Western powers opposed to his nationalist policies.

news24