Tafadzwa Nehumba’s chosen sector as a street vendor is agriculture produce, fruits to be specific.
He can be found at his regular spot in downtown Bulawayo selling bananas, apples, oranges and grapes from his cart. As he tells it, he is not a vendor because he likes it, but like many of his peers, it is the same old story: “There are no jobs.”
This is not breaking news in Zimbabwe, where university graduates wear their academic gowns while “hustling” as street vendors.
Tafadza is one of many young people selling fruits and vegetables in the city and across the country but who tell a story about their reluctance to be at the heart of the agriculture value chain. “I know the produce comes from different parts of the country, but I cannot imagine myself working in a farm,” Tafadza said.
Government has emphasised that young people should be employers in their own right, pointing to “vast” opportunities in the agriculture sector.
Most people do not work as vendors by choice, but rather out of necessity. The underlying reason is the lack of available jobs.
For many here, the journey of food from farm to fork remains a mystery. “You do not ask yourself where the food you sell or eat comes from. I do not know anyone who does that,” Tafadza said.
Yet it has become common in Bulawayo’s bristling vegetable street market right in the central business district to find giant trucks offloading all sorts of green produce.
The young people who mob these trucks to make bulk purchases for resale remain on the periphery of agriculture production, earning much needed incomes as street vendors from a sector that has produced few youthful commercial farmers.
Marilyn Gumpo, a twenty-something year old, straps a baby on her back and hawks all kinds of vegetables also in Bulawayo’s downtown vegetable market. With thousands of vendors here, Marilyn’s income is only enough to pay her transport fare, a few groceries and rent money when government has assured young people riches that await them in the agriculture sector.
“I buy my stuff from the market where they sell vegetables at a low price and put my own small mark-up,” she said. It is a long-held practice here whereby vendors display their wares outside the same brick and mortar vegetable market where they bought their greens.
It is a longstanding custom for vendors to set up their displays right outside the same brick and mortar vegetable market where they purchase their produce.
For Marilyn, getting her hands dirty as a farmer has never crossed her mind. “It is not something I have ever thought about really,” she said, expressing a common sentiment here despite numerous calls by government for young people to transition from mere consumers to food producers.
According to the Agriculture and Marketing Authority, a government regulatory and advisory entity, in 2023, Zimbabwe exported 1 500 tonnes of citrus fruit to China alone, presenting huge possibilities for aspiring farmers despite the specialised nature of the horticulture industry.
It has become normal in downtown Bulawayo’s vegetable market to find mounds of rotting vegetables and fruits such as avocados, despite Zimbabwe being listed as the fifth largest avocado producer in the world, highlighting lost opportunities for young people.
But Zimbabwe’s employment and agriculture dynamics remain complex, pushing millions into a consumer society where vendors such as Tafadza and Chuma are caught by surprise when they are told there is a shortage of vegetables and other green produce.
It is normal for vendors and members of the public to find a shortage of daily staples, not because the produce is out of season, but because of value chain bottlenecks such as transport. In a country where fuel is considered one of the most expensive in the region, the agriculture sector has not been spared, effectively discouraging new entrants into the sector.
“I think many people still do not understand where food comes from really. It is something that is just there,” said Trust Hove, an agriculture economist in the city.
“Mindsets have to change, especially among young people, about agriculture and food production in the country. If perspectives shift it means they become the future of the country’s food production efforts,” Trust said. The indifference of vegetable and fruit vendors regarding where the produce they hawk comes from could be a pointer of the work that remains to be done to convince young people to take up farming.
The agriculture revolution touted by government will not reach its full potential without young people, Trust believes.
“There is a lot of opportunity for young people in the agriculture sector. I think the approach should shift from mere public pronouncements by government to on the ground interactions with people. And vegetable vendors provide an interesting demographic in that regard,” Trust said.
