Online Reporter
Patrick Chitumba, [email protected]
MIDLANDS Province is emerging as a front-runner in the Government’s rural industrialisation programme, with 216 business units already completed as the Second Republic pushes to anchor economic growth in communities in line with Vision 2030.
The village business unit model integrates horticulture, grain production, nutrition gardens and access to clean water on a standardised one-hectare plot.
In an interview, Agricultural Rural Development and Advisory Services provincial director for Midlands, Ms Busiso Olga Mavankeni, said the province had made substantial strides in rolling out the business units programme, which has become a cornerstone of the Second Republic’s decentralisation agenda.
“Completed village business units to drive rural industrialisation in Midlands Province stand at 216. With 194 units already operational and more under construction, the province is positioning itself as a blueprint for how rural industrialisation can be driven from the grassroots,” she said.
“As the units multiply, the province will play a leading role in meeting national food security targets while building resilient, income-generating rural economies.”
Ms Mavankeni said of the 216 business units, 185 are Village Business Units, 26 are school business units, one is a vocational training centre and four are chief business units.
She said the approach creates diversified production systems that enable communities to retain greater value from their produce while reducing reliance on rain-fed agriculture.
“This means that the country’s rural industrialisation drive is gathering pace under the Rural Development 8.0 Model of NDS2, with one-hectare, solar-powered VBUs linking smallholder farmers to formal markets,” said Ms Mavankeni.
She said for many villagers, the shift was already tangible, with vegetables being harvested weekly and produce loaded onto trucks headed for markets.
Ms Mavankeni said the programme is also being expanded beyond crop production to position rural households as active participants in the country’s agricultural economy.
“Communities that once relied largely on subsistence farming are increasingly embracing commercial agriculture, with the VBU model emerging as a key pillar of the Food Security, Climate
Resilience and Rural Transformation Cluster under the National Development Strategy 2,” she said.
Ms Mavankeni said the Village Business Unit programme aligned directly with Vision 2030, which seeks to transform the country into an upper-middle-income society.
“By decentralising production and value addition, the units are reducing rural-to-urban migration, creating jobs at village level and improving household nutrition,” she said.
The integration of schools and vocational centres into the model is also building a new generation of young farmers and agri-entrepreneurs equipped with practical skills.
Chiwundura area now has 16 Village Business Units. The expansion forms part of the national target to establish 35 000 VBUs across the country.
Chiwundura legislator who is also Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Sleiman Kwidini, said the initiative reflected President Mnangagwa’s vision of commercialising rural agriculture.
“This is President Mnangagwa’s vision: transforming nutrition gardens into viable commercial business entities. From high-yield horticulture to clean water points, this is about ensuring development reaches all 35 000 villages,” he said.
“When communities produce, process and market locally, capital stays in the village and fuels our national growth.”
Deputy Minister Kwidini said President Mnangagwa had indicated that rural industrialisation remains central to inclusive national development.
“The Second Republic is accelerating the rollout of the rural industrialisation agenda as a key pillar for inclusive national development. Through Village Business Units and promoting the ‘Dam as an Economy’ concept, we are taking opportunities, industries and markets directly to our communities,” he said.
Agriculture extension officer for Chiwundura, Mrs Beauty Maguneyi, said the strategic positioning of the units near major roads had improved market linkages.
“On these one-hectare standardised plots, the strategic location near major roads gives our farmers direct access to buyers. Farmers are consistently earning upwards of US$40 a week per household, turning what used to be informal gardens into fully registrable, profitable micro-enterprises,” she said.
Beneficiaries said the initiative had transformed livelihoods and local economies.
“We want to thank the President for this initiative. With solar-powered boreholes, we farm all year round, and within a week I can collect up to US$40 in profit,” said Ms Martha Sibanda, a villager from Chiwundura.
She said the programme had shifted communities towards market-oriented production.
“We are no longer just farming to feed our households; we are producing directly for the market, earning a steady weekly income and creating local jobs for local youths,” she said.
Another beneficiary, Mr Tawanda Mtombeni, said the VBUs were transforming the entire community model.
“They are shifting us permanently from subsistence agriculture to running an actual business,” said Mr Mtombeni.
