228 village business units established

Precious Manomano, Herald Reporter

About 164 villages, 44 schools and 20 youth centres have so far benefited from the 228 business units that are being established under the Presidential Rural Development Programme.

Under the programme a total of 35 000 village business units and 9 600 school business units shall be established by 2025.

These business units are expected to spur rural industrialisation and address food security, income generation and employment creation gaps.

So far, 2 972 boreholes have been drilled under the programme with 1 166 of the boreholes having been fitted with bush pumps for the provision of drinking water.

The Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) is spearheading the programme, which it is implementing together with the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA), Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) and the Agriculture Finance Corporation (AFC).

Under the programme, ZINWA is set to drill 35 000 boreholes in the country’s 35 000 villages, 9 600 boreholes for schools and 4 500 boreholes for youth centres.

Zinwa corporate communications and marketing manager Mrs Marjorie Munyonga indicated that since the launch of the Presidential Rural Development Programme in 2021, communities have been making a decent living.

“The village business units are run on a purely commercial basis with the local communities being both shareholders and employees. ARDA assists with the management of the business units and their registration as formal companies while the AMA develops secure markets where produce from the VBUs is sold,” said Mrs Munyonga.

In Manicaland province 2 822 villages are expected to benefit, 4 244 in Mashonaland East, 3 335 villages in Mashonaland West, 8 692 villages in Masvingo, 3 205 villages in Matabeleland North, 2 418 villages in Matabeleland South, and 6 342 villages in Midlands.

AFC provides funding for the units.