Sinokubonga Nkala
Leonard Ncube, [email protected]
MATABELELAND North is poised to become a national model for Village Business Units (VBUs) under the Smallholder Agriculture Cluster Project (SACP) targeting to capacitate 100 nutritional gardens in five provinces.
The initiative aims to transform rural communities through modernisation and industrialisation in line with President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
The VBUs concept, introduced by the Government, promotes self-sustaining rural industrialisation through income-generating projects, including horticultural production facilitated by irrigation systems and greenhouses.
The SACP, implemented by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, is a collaborative effort with the International Fund for Agriculture Development (Ifad) and the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (Opec) Fund for International Development (Ofid).
Village business units have shown huge potential to revolutionise rural communities and improve the quality of their lives consistent with the National Development Strategy 1.
Linked to the VBUs are the school business units that are helping capacitate schools and reduce fees given that there will be other revenue-generating streams other than school fees from parents.
VBUs are equipped with irrigation systems and greenhouses where households engage in horticultural production, among other income-generating projects.
This dovetails with the Presidential Rural Development Programme, which is part of the Government’s Rural Development 8.0 initiative. Other components include the Accelerator Model, Pfumvudza/Intwasa, Presidential Poultry Scheme, Presidential Fisheries Scheme, Presidential Blitz Tick Grease Scheme and the Presidential Cotton Inputs Scheme, which feed into Vision 2030.
SACP is being implemented in five provinces; Matabeleland North, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, and parts of Midlands, which did not benefit from another project, the Small Holder Irrigation Revitalisation Programme( SIRP) that started in 2017.
The SIRP targeted Matabeleland South, Masvingo, Manicaland, and parts of the Midlands.
SACP’s scope is to promote market-led and climate-smart value chains and a small component of irrigation schemes. The idea is to cushion farmers against the effects of climate change through climate-smart initiatives as well as assist the value chains.
The SACP targets to help 100 VBUs in the five provinces but starting with Matabeleland North as a pilot programme.
SACP national project co-ordinator Dr Godfrey Nehanda said the project involves equipping nutrition gardens and VBUs in the five provinces. In Matabeleland North, it is being implemented in Lupane and Hwange.
In Lupane the projects will be in Lupane’s Mabhikwa and Jabatshaba areas.
The project focuses on developing and fencing 1,25-hectare gardens, polarised boreholes, drip irrigation, drinking troughs for livestock, taps for domestic water supply and laundry facilities.
The one hectare is for commercial purposes while the 0.25ha is for a nutritional garden.
Dr Nehanda said SACP is a six-year project running from 2021-2027 to improve household incomes and nutrition through smallholder agriculture transformation as well as improve smallholder farmers participation in the agriculture market value chain.
He said the project is being implemented in 18 districts in the five provinces focusing on value chain development.
“This project comes under the Ministry of Lands where we are complementing Government efforts. The target is to have 100 VBUs and this year we are supposed to accomplish 70 and to date, we are finalising 20 in Lupane and Hwange,” said Dr Nehanda.
The project also involves water provision for domestic and irrigation use in partnership with the Zimbabwe National Water Authority and the Rural Infrastructure Development Agency.
“We are trying to respond to drought issues in collaboration with the Government and we are at an advanced stage of implementing the VBUs,” said Dr Nehanda.
Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Richard Moyo said the VBUs are part of President Mnangagwa’s vision to transform the socio-economic state of every community through the rural industrialisation agenda.
“This is part of President Mnangagwa’s vision to have these village business units.
“These are the partners we want as Government to develop the country through empowering people,” he said.
Minister Moyo said capacitating the nutritional gardens will help improve food security and income. — @ncubeleon
