Call for local beneficiation in provinces

Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls
THERE is a need for all provinces in the country to identify low-hanging fruits that they can beneficiate to enhance growth by reducing exportation of raw products.

The country has 10 provinces, eight of them largely rural while Harare and Bulawayo are metropolitan. Each province is endowed with vast natural and human resources, which have potential to catapult them to growth and transform livelihoods, while helping achieve the devolution agenda.

Nine Provincial Affairs and Devolution Ministers attended the Hand-in-Hand Zimbabwe Executive Round Table Meeting, which was held in Victoria Falls last week.

Government, in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organisation through the Hand-in-Hand Initiative, organised the two-day gathering.

Ministers and Permanent Secretaries in their offices were invited to present on endowments in their provinces and identifying key resources and products that could drive their respective provinces’ development agendas.

They called for local beneficiation in their provinces as they value add and invited prospective investors into sectors like dairy and livestock production, beef and leather industries, citrus fruits, cash crop production and tourism among other key areas.

Local beneficiation is expected to have a positive impact on ending rural poverty by transforming people’s livelihoods, developing districts and provinces as well as contributing to the national economy.

Already provinces are in the process of crafting their provincial development plans to guide their economic activity.
Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North economies, for instance, are anchored around tourism, energy development and agriculture with livestock production being regarded as the low-hanging fruit.

Permanent Secretary in Matabeleland South Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister’s office, Ms Latiso Dlamini, said the province is courting investors to resuscitate canning and beef industries.

“We are breeding cattle and we are also doing artificial insemination as we want to increase our herd. We have the best (boer) goats in the country and we need to process our meat locally.

“We need refrigeration and warehouses as our main goal is to resuscitate the canning industry,” said Ms Dlamini.

She said the province was also significantly involved in production of small grain crops while vast water bodies which also supply the city of Bulawayo are low hanging fruits for investment.

Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs Minister Richard Moyo said the province is ready to welcome investors.
Manicaland Province’s economy is hinged on growing of macadamia nuts as the main value chain, while other economic activities include cotton, banana, tea and dairy production.

Bulawayo’s economy is around growth of beef and the leather industry which largely need capital injection to resuscitate.

Cassava production can be big in Mashonaland Central and has potential to create jobs and grow the provincial gross domestic product.

In Mashonaland East, dairy production is the primary activity and the province has 4 573 dairy cows and four dairy processing companies. Mashonaland West is also courting investors for the dairy sector as the key activity, while cannabis and avocado production are also key, the provincial ministers said.

Mr Godfrey Mkwakwami, a director for Economic Development Coordination in the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works said besides tourism which makes the province the country’s tourism capital, both small and big livestock is the main economic activity.

He said the province has vast land amounting to 75 000 square kilometres making agriculture possible.

“Ours is the beef leather value chain which we are trying to develop through exports. We have 695 000 cattle, 500 000 goats and 52 000 sheep and pecan nuts and cotton production are future value chains. We will likely grow cotton through irrigation with the coming up of irrigation as a result of development of water bodies,” he said.

Cotton is the backbone for Midlands province, which produces 50 percent of the national produce.

Provincial Affairs Minister Larry Mavima said 35 000 tonnes of lint are exported in raw form per year from the province while plans are underway to establish Gokwe special economic zone for cotton.

“We looked at cotton as the comparative advantages we have as a province but we also do dairy, maize, mining and fertiliser production. There is opportunity for value addition in Midlands,” he said.

Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Ezra Chadzamira said people should come and invest in Masvingo adding that more than 80 percent of the population is directly or indirectly employed in agriculture.

“Cotton, sugar, beef, horticulture, traditional foods, dryland agriculture, research, tobacco, mining and tourism are the main activities. We have large water bodies that have turned the province into an agriculture region and              people should come and invest in Masvingo,” he said.

The Hand in Hand Initiative was launched by FAO in October 2019 as a new Strategic Framework (2022-2031) around seeking to support the 2030 Agenda through the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems for better production, better nutrition, better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.

It is an evidence-based and country-led programme with the objective of eradicating poverty, ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition while reducing inequalities by accelerating agricultural transformation and sustainable rural development. — @ncubeleon