Andrew
Sunday Mail Reporters
Zimbabwe currently has eight schemes running under the ambitious programme Rural Development 8.0, which is designed to improve the livelihoods of rural communities by boosting food security, rural incomes, development and industrialisation.
The programme essentially consolidates all the ongoing Presidential schemes — Pfumvudza/Intwasa (maize, cotton and wheat), the Presidential Borehole Drilling Scheme, the Presidential Community Fisheries Programme, the Presidential Blitz Tick Grease Programme, the Presidential Rural Poultry Programme and the Presidential Rural Goat Pass-on Scheme.
The programme is expected to boost agricultural output in rural areas and improve food security, building on a model that has so far helped the country achieve self-sufficiency in maize and wheat.
It is envisaged that beneficiation centres such as the fruit and vegetable plant in Mutoko and the mapfura processing plant in Mwenezi, which would be part of the growth nodes of rural industrialisation, would also be set up.
Ultimately, a virtuous circle of development, which is complemented by devolution and the rural electrification programme, is expected to improve living standards and lift communities out of poverty.
The Government has already secured US$800 million through Rwanda for rural electrification, while 40 borehole drilling rigs have been secured to sink at least one solar-powered borehole in each of Zimbabwe’s 35 000 rural wards.
An additional 80 borehole drilling rigs are expected in the country soon to ensure that each district has at least one permanent rig.
Some families in Mangwe, Matabeleland South, are already benefiting from the initiatives.
Addressing a recent star rally in Chiredzi North, President Mnangagwa said the pilot project in Mangwe shows that the planned rural development model works.
“We did the first pilot in Mangwe district, Matabeleland South, with about 150 families. They have two hectares of nutrition garden. They have potable water and electricity in their homes.
“They have cold rooms and every month they get paid from the money realised from selling their produce.
“All of this is handled by a skilled manager who is also paid,” he said.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minster Dr Anxious Masuka said a similar project will be rolled out in Masvingo in December.
The project will be implemented on 8 000 hectares and will benefit villagers displaced during the construction of Lake Mutirikwi and Tugwi-Mukosi Dam.
“We are through with planning for the whole of Mutirikwi and it has 8 000 hectares of irrigation,” he said.
“We will be giving all the beneficiaries their ownership documents by December. In the Lundi section, we will finish planning on October 21, then we will go to Chingwizi, which has a lot of issues. It was not right that people who were displaced from Tugwi-Mukosi did not have irrigation plots, so we have made plans to connect Chingwizi.
“By the time we start planting wheat, you will have water so that you can also participate in wheat farming. So, you can see that there is a lot we are doing under Rural Development 8.0 under the leadership of President Mnangagwa.”
In Musakanda village, under Chief Charumbira, Masvingo, another project is being implemented, with about 60 households employed at the one-hectare Sipambi Nutritional Garden. The garden has been transformed into a business and is expected to generate about US$17 300 per cycle.
Other programmes are having a profound impact on rural communities as well.
This year, the Pfumvudza/Intwasa scheme for the 2022/2023 summer cropping season will cover three million households, while about five million households are being targeted under the Presidential Rural Poultry and the Presidential Rural Goat Pass-On schemes.
Financial backing
AFC Land and Development Bank, formerly Agribank, is also weighing in by providing the much-needed capital to farmers.
Small-scale farmers at the Mushandike Irrigation Scheme, which has 847 hectares of irrigable land spanning 11 villages in Masvingo, are increasing production as a result of support through the facility.
AFC Group head — strategy, marketing and corporate communications — Ms Caroline Mozhendi, said they have already identified farmers they will work with.
“The AFC Land and Development Bank has identified 12 groups of farmers, with a total of 179 farmers, comprising mainly women, youths and the disabled, to support and nurture into viable and sustainable farming businesses. This is in line with the Government’s thrust of achieving food self-sufficiency. Vision 2030 seeks to attain an upper middle-income economy, and agriculture development is the main anchor,” said Ms Mozhendi.
In 2021, the farmers were given working capital during the summer cropping season.
“The facility financed 37,9 hectares of sugar beans and the produce was marketed through various off-take arrangements organised by the Land Bank with companies such as PHI,” she said.
During the 2022 winter wheat season, the bank also assisted the same 12 groups with a working capital facility for 81 hectares of wheat.
Besides the financial support, these farmers now have business accounts through which they receive their payments.
Added Ms Mozhendi: “Land Bank has also capacitated the farmers through training on issues to do with record keeping, interacting and negotiating with the market in order to operate as a business.”
President Mnangagwa’s overall objective is to ensure that, as the country develops, no one and no place is left behind.
Online Reporter