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Thokozile Mbedzi, Business Reporter
A MASSIVE bee-keeping project is underway in Umguza District, Matabeleland North, which is expected to create many jobs for locals.
Government is spearheading the project through the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare as part of community empowerment.
Named the “Umguza Apiculture Employment Promotion Programme (UAEPP), the project is expected to create many jobs, empower the people and eradicate poverty especially among women and youths
Through the project, Umguza District is expected to produce about 220 tonnes of honey in the next three years and create close to 10 000 jobs.
A stakeholder meeting was convened recently at Umguza Rural District Council offices in Bulawayo to discuss the scope of the project and its implementation roadmap.
Deputy director in the Department of Employment Services and Promotion, Mrs Vimbai Margaret Chiza, said bee-keeping was a high impact project which empowers communities.
“The project has potential to create 500 direct jobs and thousands jobs down stream. The project considers gender and seeks to move people from poverty to sustainable contribution to Vision 2030 by creating decent jobs,” she said.
Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe (Emcoz) former president, Mr Josephat Kahwema, who also attended the meeting, said the planned bee-keeping project was one of the biggest in the country.
“This is a good project. People in the communities should take advantage of this low hanging fruit,” he said.
Project co-ordinator, Mr Proud Chuma, said Umguza was a good area to kick-start the project as the district was home to many unemployed people.
In line with its mandate to co-ordinate and spearhead employment creation as espoused in the National Development Strategy (NDS1: 2021-2025), the ministry’s target is to establish a project in each province to empower communities.
“The project is directly aligned with the “Green industry Initiatives” targeting to resuscitate the apiculture industry,” said Mr Chuma.
The Government has already conducted a baseline study for UAEPP through a technical implementing committee, which documented information on status and assessed feasibility aspects such as suitability of the selected wards in terms of the environment and availability of water.
The baseline survey also covered important aspects such as identification of training sites and community profiling for future projects.
It also covered identification of sites for queen breeding apiaries, environmental analysis in terms of forage and availability of water sources.
Online Reporter