Zimbabwe’s horticultural sector has experienced tremendous growth in the last three years alone. The National Trade Development and Promotion Organization of Zimbabwe (ZimTrade) says avocados are hugely contributing to the rise in horticultural exports. Newer avocado plantations that are coming into maturity are boosting export volumes.
The journey of avocados from Zimbabwe to markets abroad is a long and complex one. They are transported by road and cross over into South Africa through Beitbridge border. Since Zimbabwe is a landlocked country, it heavily relies on the port of Durban to transport avocados via sea freight.
Zimbabwe exported almost 5,600 tonnes of avocado in 2023. This was slightly higher than the previous record held in 2018 when avocado exports reached 5,183 tonnes. According to UN Comtrade, 2022 recorded the highest volume of exports at 7,723 tonnes.
Here is the export volume of avocados from Zimbabwe between 2012 and 2023.
The main destinations for Zimbabwe avocados are the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) The government of Zimbabwe is in the process of negotiating new markets for its avocados in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Japan and Hong Kong. ZimTrade says the potential of these markets will propel Zimbabwe to become a leading avocado exporting country in Africa.
Europe is the biggest market for Zimbabwe avocados, mainly Hass variety, because they enjoy duty free access. This is arranged under the interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between EU and the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) countries.
Avocado Suppliers in Zimbabwe
Here is a top avocado exporter in Zimbabwe
Freshela Exporters
Freshela is a company that engages in the sourcing, processing and exporting of avocados and other fresh produce such as mango, pineapple, banana, vegetables and herbs.
Freshela is a proud exporter of Zimbabwe avocados. Our avocados are organically grown in the most ideal climatic conditions in Zimbabwe.
We source avocados from outgrowers. Our outgrowers are proud and happy working with us.
Our avocados are cultivated with uncompromising dedication to excellence and freshness. We guarantee optimum maturity of avocados.
We give competitive pricing to our customers.
We use a modern grading machine to achieve desired avocado weight. The fruit is also graded to eliminate any with physical quality defects.
We pack avocado fruit in 4kg cartons for both air and sea freights. We use dry wooden pallets to pack the cartons. Each pallet for sea freight takes 276 cartons while each pallet for air freight takes 144 cartons.
All of our avocado packing is approved by FDA and is certified by HACCP Quality Assurance.
The avocados in our pack house go through accurate machine selection. The avocados are classified according to dry meter, size, colour and external skin defects.
After packing, we pre-cool our avocados to 5°C in our cold rooms. This reduces field heat immediately after packing.
This process conserves the weight of our avocados preventing them from softening, water loss and wilting. Long shelf life is guaranteed because our avocados stay fresh throughout the supply chain. Our customers are happy because of the high quality of avocado we deliver.
The pre-cooling process is in preparation for shipping. We maintain the cold temperatures and achieve consistent preservation by loading close to the cold rooms.
Our trained staff properly seal the refrigerated containers. Our quality assurance team then confirms before the containers leave the pack house. The avocados are now ready for export.
By working directly with avocado growers and cooperatives, we are able to deliver our produce within a short lead time. We believe that growers grow and exporters export. That is how our growers are able to do what they do best and in return we guarantee superior, quality produce.