Excess Fruits and Vegetables Put to Good Use

Zimbabwe Development Democracy Trust (ZDDT) horticulture consultant, Yvonne Berkhout, has put leftover fruits and vegetables to good use by producing pickles and chutney under the MaSiziba label as part of the trust’s “value addition” drive.

In an interview with this reporter, she said, “We are using second grade veg and fruit to make preserves, pickles or dried vegetables. Currently I am buying such surplus from the gardens and doing the processing at home. We hope to be doing this at garden level shortly, in the form of mobile kitchen, where we can train people on site.

“In the current batch, I used red peppadews from Kirimuva Garden plus dried coriander from Greenfield Garden at Emganwinini which was harvested four months ago. For pickles, we used peppadews, coriander, salt, sugar and vinegar. For Chutney, we used tomatoes, onions, apples, coriander, sugar, vinegar and chillies.”

Through its community outreach programme, ZDDT promotes innovation and technological development to increase production and improve income levels of the poor.