Late VP Dr Nkomo’s dream nears fruition

Dumisani Nsingo Senior Reporter
THE multi-million dollar tomato processing equipment that has been lying idle at the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) Balu Estates in Umguza District, Matabeleland North Province for over two decades will be installed soon at Esigodini in Matabeleland South Province, an official said. Arda board chairman Mr Basil Nyabadza confirmed this development at a Matabeleland region agricultural stakeholders’ meeting held at the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce offices in Bulawayo on Thursday.
He also said another plant of such nature would be put in place in Norton.

The construction of the two plants follows a public-private partnership arrangement between Arda, Development Trust of Zimbabwe (DTZ) and an unnamed Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed company.

“A tomato processing plant will be put in place in Norton and the other one in Esigodini. A stock exchange-listed company has promised to invest in this project. The tomato processing plant issue was being facilitated by DTZ, which of course was being spearheaded by the late VP Joshua Nkomo,” Mr Nyabadza said.

The tomato processing and canning project was part of the late Vice-President Dr Joshua Nkomo’s industrialisation vision, which he spearheaded through the DTZ.
Another DTZ project, Nuanetsi Ranch in Mwenezi which at its peak had 35 000 cattle, has been run down over the years.

DTZ is a national independent trust whose main thrust is to focus on development at national level and is chaired by Economic Planning Minister Simon Khaya Moyo. President Mugabe, who is the patron of the trust, appointed a 15-member board last year.

“It (tomato processing project) failed to take off over the years because there was no funding but a company to resuscitate the project has since been identified. We stand to benefit as a country from the project as there is great demand for tomatoes in Namibia’s fishing industry, with them having to import the tomatoes from as far as China,” Mr Nyabadza said.

He said the equipment was only kept at Arda Balu Estate for safe-keeping purposes with Esigodini being long identified for the installation of the plant.
The machinery includes electric motors, storage tanks, piping material, steamers, mixers and various farming implements like tractors, harvesters and sorting machines.
Namibia is especially keen to find investors in tomato paste production to support its fish industr. It has a huge industry exporting fresh and canned fish.

With a 1 572-kilometre coastline, Namibia has a strong fishery industry. Fish and fish products represent 25 percent of the country’s exports which are primarily to Europe and Asia, mainly to industry in Malaysia, China and Japan. Its main products include cultured fish, mussels, abalone, sea cucumber and urchin.

The industry has recently ventured into aquaculture to produce black and red tilapia, African catfish and carps. The Namibian government also encourages foreign investors to venture into these projects, especially tilapia farming, to fill the supply gap caused by declining exports from Malaysia. It also encourages investment in oyster lobster and abalone farming.

The Department of Agricultural Technical and Extension Services Matabeleland North provincial officer, Mr Dumisani Nyoni, said the proposed utilisation of the tomato processing equipment was a welcome development towards ensuring value addition.

“We have over the years wondered why the equipment has been let to lie idle like that. Some of us started knowing much about the importance of value addition largely due to the fact that it was always being uttered by the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo.

“If the latest development is true then there is a need to expedite the mobilisation of resources to ensure that there is sufficient tomato production in the region. In actual fact this is the ideal time to come up with a comprehensive financial model to assist on the production side as well as on the marketing of the end product,” Mr Nyoni said.

Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries Matabeleland region president Mr Walter Chigwada said any form of industrialisation in the region was welcome considering the effects of de-industrialisation that have been haunting Bulawayo for over a decade.

“Any form of industrialisation in the region is welcome. We have been pushing for this for some time and this latest development will come in handy in terms of employment creation and obviously it will impact positively on upstream and downstream industries,” he said.