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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke, Senior Reporter
A NEW initiative aimed at revitalising Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector has been endorsed at the ongoing SADC Industrialisation Week in Harare.
The Goromonzi Agro-Industrial Company Special Economic Zone (GAIC SEZ) successfully pitched for investment at the Investment Conference, which was held on the sidelines of the SADC Industrialisation Week (SIW) on Monday, drawing positive responses from potential investors. The GAIC SEZ is a pioneering project that seeks to enhance agricultural production, processing, and value addition and is expected to improve the country’s food security while boosting foreign currency earnings.
Agro-Industrial Processing Special Economic Zones are designed to create integrated ecosystems where farmers, processors, and distributors can collaborate seamlessly.
By reducing transaction costs and sharing resources, the SEZs are expected to enhance productivity, competitiveness, and create employment opportunities.
Experts from various organisations praised the initiative, emphasising the importance of such projects for Africa’s development.
Speaking during a panel discussion on agro-industrial transformation for food security through Special Economic Zones, Mr David Burton, from the United Kigndom Department for Business and Trade, highlighted the need for careful planning and execution to ensure the economic zone reaps dividends.
“Such initiatives are absolutely vital for food security. I am fortunate that I get to travel a lot in Africa, and I have seen some very successful industrial zones, and I have also seen some half-finished ones. And unfortunately, quite a lot, not just in Africa, but around the world actually, are half-finished industrial zones that were not built up properly, were not planned properly. So, the devil is in the details really,” he said. Mr Themba Khumalo, value chain advisor to the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) Secretariat, expressed optimism over the GAIC SEZ’s potential to benefit from the expanded markets.
“We have this dividend which we should be able to use to our advantage as a continent and support young people and women in this type of business. Agro-processing is a sharp focus for the secretariat because that is one of the low hanging fruits that we can leverage on. We have built this US$1,4 billion market with 47 state countries that are saying let us look at. It is not just a question of what could be produced and consumed in Zimbabwe but it’s about how we can open the market for this agro-processing zone to be able to produce and export its products across the continent,” he said.
Mr Khumalo said the ACFTA would help the continent realise its dream of having an economically integrated Africa.
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) Director Export Development, Ms Oluranti Doherty, also pledged its support for agro-SEZs, which aligns with its focus on intra-African trade. “Afreximbank has a lot of initiatives that seek to mobilise intra-African investments. We have a programme called the Intra-African Champions, where we identify solutions. We have a lot of initiatives from large-scale African corporates who are very established in their fields and can invest in other countries to facilitate development. And we have some of these intra-champs who have a unique focus on developing Agro Special Economic Zones,” she said. Ms Doherty also said the Africa Trade Distribution Company (ATDC) was launched in June this year as a way of promoting inter-African trade in food commodities.
This was expected to build the continent’s food self-sufficiency.
“So, what the ATDC will be doing is that it is going to be a mega export trading company that will aggregate products from industrial parts like the Agro SEZ in Zimbabwe and everywhere else and ensure that we take them to where there is a gap or a demand. So, you use the surplus to feed the deficit. All these initiatives are very critical because if we are going to change Africa, there is only one way and that is industrialisation,” she added. Countries that have implemented the Agro-SEZs had reported success and are now harnessing better foreign exchange value from their commodities. “We have seen it work in Indonesia so it is not like we are reinventing the wheel. We can’t just take this template and run with it. The Africa Trade Distribution Company is ready to continue to support industrialisation, not only in Zimbabwe but within SADC and within the entire continent,” Ms Doherty said.
Afrexim Bank has over the last 10 years invested US$1 billion in the development of Special Economic Zones in countries such as Malawi with US$2 billion worth of projects in the pipeline in Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda.
Ms Doherty said the GAIC SEZ should push for partnerships with both Government and private sector experts in the agro-processing field for it to be successful.
“An Agro-Processing Zone in Benin was launched in 2020 and it focuses on cashew processing, cotton processing, and up to date it has yielded US$420 million in additional exports. It has created 12 000 jobs and has attracted more than 1,000 new employees. It has attracted US$1 billion in FDI since 2020. You can do that. That could be your story in the next 24 years. But let us do it right, let us support you, that’s what we’re here for,” she said
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