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1. By Tawanda Musarurwa
HARARE – Zimbabwe last
year exported horticultural
products to the European
Union (EU) worth $61,42
million, Eurostat figures
show.
But the country is still a
long way off from making
significant strides into the
EU market, whose total 2015
imports from around the
world amounted to a stag-
gering $59,39 billion.
Zimbabwe’s horticultural
exports to the EU last year
amounted to a mere 0, 10
percent of the regional
bloc’s overall horticultural
imports market.
News Update as @ 1530 hours, Tuesday 19 April 2016
Feedback: bh24admin@zimpapers.co.zwEmail: bh24feedback@zimpapers.co.zw
Zim horticulture exports to EU reach $61,4 million in 2015

2. And it has maintained the
same percentage share since
2013, which was however
a marginal gain from the
0,077 percent recorded in
2012, the Eurostat figures
show.
Eurostat is the statistical
office of the EU.
Zimbabwe’s significant mar-
kets for horticultural prod-
ucts in the EU in 2015 were
Netherlands, which imported
$39, 86 million worth of hor-
ticultural products, followed
by United Kingdom which
imported products to the
tune of $13,92 million, and
Germany, which imported
$1, 66 million horticulture
products from the country.
Other key markets during
the same period include
France, Portugal and Spain
which imported horticultural
products from Zimbabwe to
the tune of $1, 55 million,
$1,3 million and $1,23 mil-
lion, respectively.
The stats indicate that
Netherlands, the United
Kingdom, Germany, France,
Portugal and Spain have
generally maintained the
trend of being the top takers
of Zimbabwe’s horticultural
products between 2012 and
2015.
And over the past four
years, Netherlands and the
United Kingdom are the
leading consumers of the
country’s horticultural prod-
ucts, respectively.
Despite Zimbabwe account-
ing for a very low stake of
the EU’s total annual horti-
cultural imports, the stats
show a gradual – albeit
marginal – increase in the
country’s exports into the EU
market.
In 2012, Zimbabwe’s exports
to the EU stood at 38,5
million, rising to $52 million
in 2013 and further to $53,5
million in 2014.
Local horticultural produc-
tion for the export market
currently involves flowers,
fruit, vegetables, herbs,
spices, essential oils and
tree nuts.
According to the Horticul-
tural Promotion Council of
Zimbabwe (HPCZ), the main
export crops include tem-
perate fruits (apple, pear,
peach, plum, apricot, nec-
tarine and grape); tropical
fruits and vegetables (baby
corn, butternut, citrus,
chilli, gem squash, kiwi,
lychee, mango, passion fruit,
pineapple and tamarillo);
out of season fruit and veg-
etables (asparagus, baby
carrots, fine beans, cherry
tomatoes, courgettes, mange
tout peas, melon, strawber-
ries and sweet corn), and
flowers (protea, roses, chry-
santhemum, liatris, aster,
chelone, euphorbia, trache-
lium, ammi majus, statice
and delphinium). ●
2 news
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3. BH243

4. BH24
TAA:DI251386-Y22
4

5. By Funny Hudzerema
HARARE - Government is work-
ing to reduce the number of days
it takes to register properties
and obtain construction licenses
in order to expedite the ease of
doing business in the construc-
tion sector and property sector.
In a speech read on his behalf
permanent secretary in the Min-
istry of Local Government, Public
Works and National Housing Eng
George Mlilo said Zimbabwe is
still rated as a country which
takes the highest number of
days for one to obtain property
documents.
“The World Bank Doing busi-
ness index of 2015 on dealing
with construction permits was
at 185 and registering property
remained at 114 and this means
that we need to work harder to
improve these rakings.
“All entities in the construction
permits and property registra-
tion clusters should ensure that
they harmonise their processes
so that we reduce the number of
days to get a construction permit
from 448 days to 120 days by 13
May 2016 and reduce the num-
ber of days to register a property
from 48 days to 16 days in the
aforementioned period,” he said.
He was speaking during a
workshop on the ease of doing
business reforms in Zimbabwe
on construction permits and
property registration which was
organised by the World Bank.
“I am reliably informed that
One Stop Shop Quick Building
Plan approval Process has been
established where instead of one
copy of the plan being circulated
to City of Harare Departments
and External entities repre-
sentatives of departments and
external entities come together
in one sitting to consider and
approval plans.
“In so doing a plan can be
approved within one week and
the success rate of plan approv-
als under this initiative currently
stands at 30 percent,” he said.
He added that in the registration
cluster there are also legislative
changes that have been imple-
mented and the principles for
amending the Deeds Registers
Act are with Cabinet for their
consideration and approval.
“Zimbabwe has repeatedly been
ranked poorly in Doing Business
Survey by the World Bank and
the World Economic Forum and
the two clusters represented
here should ensure that a condu-
cive environment is put in place
for the rankings to improve.
“Doing business simply refers
to the ease with which investors
can get investment licenses and
permits and set us businesses,”
he said.
World Bank rakings of doing
Business for 2016 indicated that
Zimbabwe is ranked 182 out of
185 for one to start a business,
dealing with construction permits
184 out of 185, getting electric-
ity 161 out of 160 and enforcing
contracts 166 out of 166. ●
Govt working to improve construction permits processing
5 news

6. BH246

7. BH247

8. By Funny Hudzerema
HARARE - First Element Dia-
mond Services is targeting to
handover a Diamond cleaning
facility to Government during
the second quarter of this
year, a company official has
said.
In an interview First Element
Diamond Services executive
director Mr Tim Wilkes said
the diamond cleaning facility
was contracted under an
agreement between Govern-
ment and the company.
“In July last year the Gov-
ernment asked us to build a
diamond cleaning laboratory
under an agreement which
allows us to own the facil-
ity for a period of time and
handover it.
“Everything is now in place
and the facility is functional
and we are expecting to
handover it to the Govern-
ment during this quarter or
the second quarter this year,”
he said.
He added that the company
has trained two chemistry
workers to run the laboratory
on behalf of the Government.
The laboratory was set up at
a cost of $300 000 has the
capacity to clean 50 000 car-
ats of diamonds on every two
days while on weekly basis
the laboratory can clean 150
000 carats.
The facility was built on a
build it transfer agreement.
Currently First Element Dia-
mond services has cleaned
450 carats and they have
been auctioned they are
expecting to do another auc-
tion next week. First Element
Diamond Services at the
moment is doing the auction
and the cleaning of diamonds
as the agreement allows
them to do.
On average Zimbabwe
receives between 96 and 200
diamond buyers per week.
Experts say deep boiling of
diamonds is a process of
cleaning the mineral under
high pressure and tem-
perature, a process which
involves three types of
chemicals. Diamonds are
taken through three stages
of cleaning.
The construction of dia-
mond cleaning laboratories
is a Government initiative to
increase diamond revenues
through value addition.●
8 news
Diamond cleaning facility to be handed to Govt in H2

9. BH249

10. HARARE - The Zimbabwe Elec-
tricity Transmission and Distri-
bution Company (ZETDC) says
it is awaiting delivery of 130
000 pre-paid meters to migrate
the remaining customers still on
the old billing system as well as
cater for new houses country-
wide.
In an update, the ZETDC said
the meters were already under
production and deliveries would
begin next month.
It said to date, a total of 563
000 customers had been
migrated to the pre-paid
meter platform, while 120 000
remained on the old billing
system.
The bulk of customers still on
the old metering system were
in Harare and Bulawayo in high
density suburbs including Mbare,
Highfield, Mzilikazi, Entumbane
and Magwegwe.
“The installation of pre-paid
meters for the remaining 120
000 customers is expected to be
completed in the last quarter of
the year,” said the ZETDC.
“The awaited delivery of 130 000
pre-paid meters will not only
clear the backlog of old meters,
but also address the needs for
new connections.”
On new housing connections, the
ZETDC said it had managed to
reduce the waiting list for new
service connections from over 35
000 to below 10 000 following
stop-gap meter procurement
measures.
“There is a boom in new housing
developments countrywide, this
has resulted in a high demand
for pre-paid meters,” it said.
The ZETDC commenced the pre-
paid metering project in 2012.
Zimbabwe is facing a power
deficit, and the government has
identified this as one of the top
priority areas in its bid to resus-
citate the economy.
The government, through the
Zimbabwe Power Company, has
embarked on several projects to
bridge the power deficit including
expanding existing generating
plants and building new ones.
Work has already started to
expand Kariba South Power sta-
tion, the country’s second largest
power station, by an additional
two units to add a combined 300
megawatts to the national grid.
Plans are also in place to add
two units at Hwange Thermal
Power Station which would have
a combined generation capacity
of 600 megawatts.
Zimbabwe is also working with
the Zambian government to
build the Batoka gorge power
station which is expected to
generate 1 600MW of electricity
to be shared equally by the two
countries when complete. In
addition to government efforts,
several Independent Power Pro-
ducers have been licensed with
the projects at different stages
of implementation
.- New Ziana●
Zesa orders 130 000 pre-paid meters
10 news

11. HARARE -The mainstream
industrial index lost a mar-
ginal 0.02 to close at 98.33
points in Tuesday’s trades.
Two counters traded in the
negative territory and there
were no gainers.
Fidelity Life eased $0,0010
to trade at $0,1030 while
telecoms giant Econet shed
$0,0005 to $0,2550.
BAT, PPC, starafrica and
Willdale were unchanged at
$10,8000, $0,6000, $0,0100
and $0,0020, respectively. The mining index was steady
at 20.16 as all the mining
counters maintained previ-
ous price levels
- BH24 Reporter ●
ZSE11
Equities begin holiday-shortened week on a low

12. Movers CHANGE Today Price USc SHAKERS Change TODAY Price USc
Fidelity Life -0.96 10.30
Econet -0.19 25.50
Index Previous Today Move Change
Industrial 98.35 98.33 -0.02 points -0.02%
Mining 20.16 20.16 +0.00 points +0.00%
12 zse tables
ZSE
Indices
Stock Exchange
Previous
today

13. 13 DIARY OF EVENTS
The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.
POWER GENERATION STATS
Gen Station
19 April 2016
Energy
(Megawatts)
Hwange 285 MW
Kariba 285 MW
Harare 30 MW
Munyati 23 MW
Bulawayo 19 MW
Imports 0 - 400 MW
Total 1119 MW
• 26th April 2016 - The Fifty-Sixth Annual General Meeting of the shareholders of British American Tobacco Zimbabwe (Hold-
ings) Limited; Place: British American Tobacco Zimbabwe Offices, 1 Manchester Road, Southerton, Harare; Time: 10.00 hours...
• 05 May 2016 - Barclays Bank of Zimbabwe AGM; Place: Meikles Mirabelle Room; Time: 1500hrs
THE BH24 DIARY

14. PARIS - France signed
several deals worth about 2
billion euros ($2,26 billion)
with Egypt during a visit by
French President Francois
Hollande to Cairo, the French
president's office said on
Monday.
The deals included a satel-
lite communications con-
tract agreed upon following
discussions between the two
presidents and their defence
ministries, the Elysee said.
The military telecommunica-
tions satellite is expected to
be build by France's Airbus
Space Systems et Thales
Alenia Space.
French energy Engie firm
said earlier that it also
signed LNG and renewable
energy contracts during the
visit. - Reuters●
regioNAL News14
France signed deals worth 2bn Euros with
Egypt: Elysee
JOHANNESBURG - South
Africa's rand firmed to a
four month high against the
dollar on Tuesday, tracking
a recovery in commodity
currencies in the face of
stabilising oil prices.
At 0735 GMT, the rand
traded at 14.3980 ver-
sus the dollar, 0.5 percent
stronger from Monday's New
York close. The rand touched
a session high of 14.3700,
the firmest it has been since
Dec. 7, according to Thom-
son Reuters data.
"It's emerging markets plus
commodity currencies that
are doing very well and
that is on the back of some
good news ... oil has made
the commodity currencies
bounce a lot," Treasury One
chief dealer Wichard Cilliers.
Currencies such as the rand,
which are affected by com-
modity prices came under
pressure on Monday after
major oil producers failed to
agree on an output freeze,
but recovered on Tuesday
due to a Kuwaiti oil strike
that has led to a cut in pro-
duction.
The rand's gains mirrored
those of the Australian dol-
lar which reached an eleven
month high against the
greenback.
The rand is close to test-
ing a new level of techni-
cal resistance at 14.25/30
against the dollar and
re-testing the top line of the
5-year channel it broke out
of in April last year, analysts
said.
Government bonds also
strengthened, with the yield
for the benchmark instru-
ment due in 2026 falling
4.5 basis points to 8.925
percent.
On the bourse, the Top-40
and the broader all-share
index both ticked up 0.3
percent in early trade -
Reuters●
Rand hits four month high against dol-
lar as oil steadies

15. Emerging-market stocks and
currencies resumed their
rally as oil prices stabilized
and comments by Federal
Reserve officials express-
ing optimism about the US
economic outlook buoyed
demand for riskier assets.
Most Asian equities gauges
rose, led by Thailand’s SET
Index, after Boston Fed Pres-
ident Eric Rosengren said
he and many private-sector
economists envision a “much
healthier US economy” than
what’s implied by financial
markets. South Korea’s won
climbed to a five-month
high after the Bank of Korea
refrained from cutting its
benchmark rate and Malay-
sia’s ringgit strengthened the
most in almost three weeks
as Brent crude stabilized.
Emerging-market assets have
gained support this year
from Fed Chair Janet Yellen,
who has struck a very dovish
tone, and futures contracts
show just a 14 percent
chance of a US rate increase
by June. The Boston Fed’s
Rosengren said that the very
shallow path of hikes that’s
currency envisioned could
result in overheating that
would necessitate raising
rates more quickly than is
desirable, highlighting a pol-
icy dilemma for the author-
ity. While it declined for a
fifth day on Tuesday, Brent
crude is still up 7,6 percent
this month.
“Any increase in US interest
rates will definitely trigger
another rally in the dollar,
which will pose a risk to to
the US economy,” said Isara
Ordeedolchest, an invest-
ment strategist at SCB Secu-
rities Co. in Bangkok. “The
Fed is very likely to delay
the increase until the middle
of the year” and that, along
with the oil-price recovery,
is aiding developing-nation
assets, he said. – Bloomb-
erg●
internatioNAL News15
Emerging-market assets resume rally on Fed optimism, stable oil

16. By Fortious Nhambura
Agriculture is an engine for
socio-economic development
in most countries in southern
Africa.
However, the sector is expe-
riencing some challenges
to fully contribute to sus-
tainable development. For
example, extreme weather
conditions such as drought,
high temperatures and low
rainfall, mainly caused by the
strongest El Niño weather
phenomenon ever in southern
Africa, has resulted in crop
failure and low harvest.
These changing weather con-
ditions have made it difficult
for the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC) to rely on rainfall to
conduct its agricultural activ-
ities because lower precipita-
tion would mean lower yield.
The low rainfall received
by SADC in recent years,
therefore, calls for an urgent
need to invest in regional
water infrastructure such
as irrigation to ensure that
farmers are cushioned from
the effects of the changing
climate.
Development of irrigation
infrastructure will allow the
region to grow crops all year
round and not only depend
on climatic conditions.
Such a situation will enable
the region to boost pro-
duction and meet growing
demand for food. Further-
more, it will improve the
incomes of farmers as they
will be able to grow high-
value crops.
According to the Food and
Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO),
irrigation has the capacity to
16 analysis16 analysis
Irrigation holds key to SADC food security

17. 17 analysis17 analysis
increase yields of most crops
by between 100 and 400
percent.
The potential impact of
irrigation in Africa is huge
as the continent is home to
more than half of the world’s
arable land and is endowed
with vast water resources.
The SADC region alone has
some of Africa’s largest riv-
ers such as the Congo and
Zambezi.
Furthermore, nine SADC
member states have access
to oceans. The coastal coun-
tries are Angola, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Madagas-
car, Mauritius, Mozambique,
Namibia, Seychelles, South
Africa and United Republic of
Tanzania.
It is important, therefore,
for SADC countries to take
advantage of their proximity
to the oceans to draw the
water for agricultural use.
To achieve this, appropri-
ate technologies must be
designed to desalinate the
water for use to enhance
food security in the region.
While significant progress
is being made by SADC to
increase the use and uptake
of irrigation infrastructure,
there is need for the region
to fully embrace irrigation
in a bid to address the food
security situation.
According to available figures
from selected SADC coun-
tries, the use of irrigation
in the region is still very
low. In fact, it is estimated
that less than 10 percent of
arable land is Africa in under
irrigation.
For example, in Zambia the
Ministry of Agriculture and
Livestock projects that out
of an irrigation potential of
three million hectares in the
country, only 156 000 hec-
tares is under irrigation.
The situation is the same
in South Africa, where only
1,3 million hectares is under
irrigation, compared to more
than 18 million hectares of
arable land.
In the SADC region, Swazi-
land has the highest ratio of
irrigated land. It is estimated
that about 95 percent of the
available 90 000 hectares of
land is under irrigation.
To promote the use of irriga-
tion, SADC in 2012 devel-
oped the Regional Infrastruc-
ture Development Master
Plan, which outlines plans for
infrastructure development
up to 2027.
The Water Sector Plan,
for example, identifies 34
infrastructure projects to
be implemented over that
period, including increasing
the irrigated area from the
current 3,4 million hectares
to 10 million hectares by
2021.
The SADC Irrigation Invest-
ment Plan, drawn from the
infrastructure master plan, is
estimated at $2,4 billion.
Some of the major projects
planned include the Shire
Valley Irrigation Project in
Malawi, the Ruhuhu Valley
Irrigation Scheme in Tanza-
nia and the Upper Okavango
Food Security Project in
Angola and Namibia.
It is expected that the devel-
opment of irrigation capac-
ity will enable the region to
mitigate the effects of low
rainfall and long dry periods
that are now a common fea-
ture in southern Africa.
According to the SADC Early
Warning and Vulnerability
Assessment systems, more
than 28 million people, which
is about 10 percent of the
population of the region, are
already food insecure due to
the lower harvest recorded
last year as a result of poor
rains.
In this regard, investment
in irrigation is the way to go
for SADC as it will wean the
region from over-dependence
on rainfall for agriculture. –
Sardc.net.●