Chronicle Editor
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Chronicle Reporter
IT’S all smiles for the community of Bengo area in Gwanda District as Government has set the ball rolling for the construction of an integrated community agribusiness hub to the tune of US$383 000 under the Presidential Rural Development Scheme.
Villagers, who could not hide their relief, said they had been eagerly awaiting the implementation of the project. About two hectares of land has been identified in Bengo, Ward 17, where the project will be established. Works are expected to start this month and will run over three months.
The integrated community business hub will consist of solar-powered boreholes, fowl run, fish pond, pastures, orchard and nutrition garden.
A delegation from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement visited the project site on Thursday where the contractor, Michmat Investments, was introduced to the community and stakeholders from various
Government departments during a site handover ceremony.
President Mnangagwa launched Sekusile Nutrition Garden in December last year in remote Makorokoro Village as part of the rural industrialisation programme. Rural industrialisation speaks to communities using local resources to uplift their lives.
The project was launched as a model scheme, which will be replicated across the country’ s 35 000 villages. Bengo is the second village that has been identified in Matabeleland South province.
In 2020 Government launched the National Horticulture Recovery and Growth Plan to stimulate both conventional and rural horticulture production, to accelerate domestic and export horticulture production, productivity and profitability.
It also focuses on value addition to contributing significantly to food security and nutrition, import substitution, foreign currency generation, employment creation and raising household incomes in pursuit of Vision 2030.
The Rural Horticulture Transformation Plan is anchored on the Presidential Horticulture Scheme, which seeks to create and sustain a US$1,2 billion rural horticulture economy by 2025.
A villager, Mr Sipho Nare, said they were happy as the development which they had long awaited had finally arrived.
“We were promised that this project will come to our area and we are glad that it’s now here. We are excited and we hope that from here this project will progress at a fast pace until it’s completed and then we can benefit from it. It’s always delightful to see Government fulfilling its promises to the people as it’s a sign that it listens and cares,” he said.
Mr Nare added: “The components of this project will really change our lives as a community. It will help address water challenges that we are facing and we will have a source of livelihood. Our desire is to see this project being implemented according to the set timelines. We have waited a long time for this project to come to fruition.”
Another villager, Mr Benson Moyo said it was pleasing to see that the project was going to kick off. He said their area did not have irrigation schemes or nutritional gardens. Mr Moyo said their lives will be changed completely through the project. He said livelihoods will greatly improve as well as the condition of livestock.
Mr Moyo said the integrated community agribusiness hub will help address challenges being faced in the community like access to water for household use and livestock, shortage of pastures, unemployment among youths and food shortage among others.
Mrs Lindiwe Sithole said they have only managed to establish small vegetable gardens where they grow produce for household production. She said it has always been their wish to turn their farming activities into a business.
Addressing community members and stakeholders at the project site, principal agricultural extension specialist, Ms Otilliah Mabvongwe said Government had put in place various programmes targeted at agricultural transformation and one being the establishment of the integrated community agribusiness hubs.
“We came here last year and identified land for establishing the integrated community agribusiness hub. A tender was flighted and after adjudication it was awarded to Michmat Investments. We are here today to introduce the contractor to you as a community and stakeholders as you will be working with him,” she said.
“Under the project, the dip tank, which is already there onsite will be rehabilitated, one-hectare pastures will be established. You will also receive a one-hectare nutrition garden, 0.5 hectares orchard, fish pond and a fowl run. Infrastructure for training farmers, office and modern ablution facilities will also be established.”
Representing the contractor, Mr Phillip Muzambe who is the sales and marketing manager for Michmat Investments said they expected to start works this month. He said the scope of works will include water supply works, construction of an indigenous chicken fowl run, construction of a fish pond, dip tank renovations, land clearance of a one-hectare horticulture plot, establishment of an orchard, nutrition garden and pastures, erection of a perimeter fence, construction of offices and training facility and construction of toilets.
Addressing stakeholders at the site, Minister of State for Matabeleland South Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Cde Abedinico Ncube said the project was testimony of Government, under the Second Republic, fulfilling its promise of transforming lives of communities.
He urged all stakeholders involved to work tirelessly to make the project a success. Cde Ncube said the integrated business hub was going to greatly improve the lives of the community. He challenged the contractor to ensure timely delivery of the project
“We thank Government under the leadership of President Mnangagwa for continued efforts in transforming the lives of communities, especially here in Matabeleland South Province. We saw this project being implemented in Makorokoro in Mangwe and then now in Bengo which is a sign that indeed Government is leaving no place and no one behind,” he said. -@DubeMatutu
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