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George Maponga-Masvingo Bureau
Rutenga Growth Point was previously only an urban entrepôt tucked deep in the backwaters of rural Mwenezi in south-western Masvingo with its only claim to fame being its strategic location with major road and railway links connecting eastern and western parts of Zimbabwe.
The growth point’s location along the Harare-Beitbridge highway made Rutenga even a strategic site for the setting up of the country’s first inland dry port to decongest Beitbridge Border Post that links Zimbabwe and its largest trading partner, South Africa.
To the rural folk in the greater Mwenezi area, they had to content with a place on the fringes devising means to eke out a living from the dry ashen soils emaciated by years of recurrent droughts caused by scanty rains.
The mapfura/marula fruit ubiquitously found in the Mwenezi countryside and beyond provided a limited respite for the Mwenezi folk who used it to make a popular brew locally called mukumbi.
Mukumbi was made from fermenting the mapfura fruit before extracting the juice which is known for its high levels of intoxication.
For years the Mwenezi folk, watched, wailed and wondered as they counted costs of abuse of this mukumbi curse that seasonally visited their land as inebriated village folks got involved in one felony after another.
Murder cases spiked so did assaults and even rape cases as Mwenezi villagers grappled with the age-old curse from the mapfura/marula fruit.
Very few if any ever imagined that come 2021, the mapfura/marula fruit would be a source of pride and an economic escape hole where villagers from corners of Mwenezi would derive income.
Thanks to President Mnangagwa’s rural industrialisation drive that emphasises use of locally available resources to fuel economic growth the mapfura/marula fruit is now a precious commodity in Mwenezi and beyond.
The President last year commissioned a mapfura/marula processing and value addition plant at Rutenga Growth Point in a landmark and game-changing move that has firmly placed the Mwenezi rural folk in the economic mainstream of the country in line with the leaving no one and no place behind mantra.
Long queues are now an everyday sight at the fledgling processing plant housed on the western edges of the growth point as villagers from all corners jostle to deliver their fruit for rich pickings in either hard currency or deposits in their accounts.
Mwenezi villagers have not disappointed as the National Biotechnology Authority of Zimbabwe (NBAZ) which set up the processing factory have to date raked in more than 200 tonnes of mapfura fruit sold by ordinary villagers.
The processing plant has brought joy and relief on the faces of the Mwenezi rural populace and villagers now treasure the mapfura/marula fruit.
Rutenga is currently on fire – thanks to the processing plant which continues to absorb the mapfura/marula fruit from different areas with villagers taking back home the cash dividend from a resource that previously wasted away without anyone giving a wink.
NBAZ initially opened the processing plant for two weeks on trial run,early last month, before it started operating at full throttle to coincide with the start of the mapfura fruit harvesting season which is now at its peak.
Mapfura/marula are harvested from end of January to end of April and the fruit is ubiquitous in Mwenezi, parts of Chivi and Chiredzi which are synonymous with arid climate.
When President Mnangagwa inaugurated the processing plant last year under Government’s rural industrialisation drive that is under-girded on the use of local expertise and innovation to exploit locally available resources and engender socio-economic development in line with Vision 2030, very few were optimistic of its success.
The plant,the first of it’s kind in Zimbabwe,was billed to process and value add the indigenous mapfura/marula fruit to produce edible oils,juices and wines for both the local market and export.
Today the buzzword across Mwenezi is the mapfura/marula fruit which is now the fruit of choice and poised to pivot the district on the road to prosperity, if indications from the inaugural marketing season currently underway are anything to go by.
Mr Natural Tapfumaneyi a Rutenga resident noted that mapfura/marula had brought a fresh catalyst for growing the growth point and areas beyond.
“We never imagined that mapfura/marula could change people’s lives in this manner.
“The impact is immediate because villagers are supplying the fruit and instantly getting paid,its like a dream,” he said.
For Mr Ranganai Zambuko from Chitanga village, Mwenezi will never be the same again now that the abundant mapfura/marula fruit has economic value.
“We can now easily raises money to buy food and send our children to school. It’s very simple all we have to do is to pick the fruit and ferry it to the plant then we get paid. We never expected this in our lifetime,” said Mr Zambuko.
The NBAZ processing plant is these days a hive of activity as a hodgepodge of villagers and donkey-drawn carts laden with the mapfura/marula fruit patiently wait within and without the factory’s precincts to deliver the fruit.
Dr Dexter Savadye, the NBAZ chief executive and registrar, confirmed a stampede by villagers to sell mapfura at their factory in Rutenga.
He disclosed that the inaugural marketing season had exceeded expectations adding that they were drawing valuable lessons for the future.
“We have heaps and heaps of mapfura/marula fruit of various grades at our factory that were delivered by farmers (villagers) and we are still taking more deliveries because we are at the peak of the harvesting season,” said Dr Savadye.
“There are long queues of farmers wishing to sell their fruit and we have assured them that we will take all the fruit irrespective of the grade.
“We will buy everything and we have already surpassed our target to collect 50 tonnes because now we are already over 200 tonnes and still going.”
Dr Savadye noted that lessons being drawn from the inaugural marketing season would be handy in future seasons.
“We are learning our lessons as we go as you know this is our first season to buy from farmers, but this year we have already noted the need to expand the factory.
“We will expand the processing plant and the warehouses so that some of the fruit we purchase is not kept in the open like what is obtaining now.”
Shortage of space to keep the fruit means some of the fruit delivered by farmers is kept in the open, but Dr Samadye is confident this development will not blemish a successful debut marketing season for mapfura.
“We have been buying a tonne of the fruit for US$100 or US$5 per 50kg bag and for those who want to be paid in local currency we have asked them to open accounts and have deposited their cash. “
The mapfura frenzy in Mwenezi has already seen ordinary villagers bagging rich pickings mainly in hard currency.
This has enabled them to build a solid disposable income base for school feed purposes or purchasing food for their families.
According to Dr Savadye, the mapfura factory had been a boon for employment around Rutenga.
“We currently have 114 manual labourers at the plant who are responsible for sorting and grading the fruit purchased from farmers because we are buying everything,” he said.
An additional 14 workers employed in management at the plant means the total staff complement is 128.
“The number of casual workers can also be increased at the plant depending on the work at hand. They can use their discretion to increase the workforce,” said Dr Savadye.
He highlighted that prospects for a bright future at the plant were very high, adding that the mapfura/marula factory had metamorphosed Mwenezi’s rural economy.
Mwenezi Rural District Council chief executive, Mr Albert Chivanga, noted that the mapfura/marula selling season was in full swing and galvanised the district’s fledgling economy.
“The mapfura/marula plant has shaken Rutenga and everyday people are flocking to the plant to sell their fruit. Mwenezi will never be the same again,” said Mr Chivanga.
Chief Chitanga, Mr Felen Chauke, paid tribute to President Mnangagwa and his administration for the vision to set up the mapfura/marula fruit processing plant which he says has brought joy on the faces of the Mwenezi rural folk.
Online Reporter