The establishment of village business units (VBUs) by the Government has demonstrated that it is the panacea to President Mnangagwa's rural industrialisation and modernisation agenda meant to transform marginalised communities in line with his mantra of leaving no place and no one behind.
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.
On the other hand, the impact of school business units that has started to be felt is the ultimate reduction of fees given that there will be other revenue generating streams other than school fees from parents.
The VBUs are equipped with irrigation systems and greenhouses where households engage in horticultural production, among other income generating projects.
They dovetail with the Presidential Rural Development Programme, which is part of the Government's Rural Development 8.0 initiative whose other components include the Vision 30 Accelerator Model, Pfumvudza/Intwasa, Presidential Poultry scheme, Presidential Fisheries Scheme. Presidential Blitz Tick Grease scheme and the Presidential Cotton Inputs Scheme.
Several youths will be empowered through training by the Vocational Training Centres (VTCS) to enable them to service the boreholes from mechanical faults that may arise, while they will get training in various fields such as welding and carpentry which will help them generate income for themselves.
The launch of Pfumvudza/Intwasa at Gwebu village, Buhera district in Manicaland last week by President Mnangagwa was an eye-opener on how business units can transform the quality of lives for rural communities overnight.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries , Water and Rural Development Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka launched the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme on behalf of President Mnangagwa where he commissioned a thriving village business unit and two school business units at Gwebu Primary and Secondary School.
Each school business unit has a one-hectare garden, fish pond, four x 5 000 litre tanks two solar powered boreholes.
A Presidential Community Fish pond under the VBU was also commissioned by Minister Masuka.
In an interview, Chief Gwebu said the VBUs will benefit more than 60 families.
"We have 25 Pfumvudza/Intwasa plots under the Zunde Ramambo. We have done holes and mulching. We also have a VBU which has a thriving garden, one-hectare cabbage crop and butternut. We are quite grateful to President Mnangagwa for introducing these VBU," said Chief Gwebu.
Gwebu Secondary School head Mrs Mercy Chituruse said the VBU will go a long way in generating revenue for the school.
"Revenue generated from this SBU will help augment school fees that we are getting from parents. The Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) undertook to help us look for lucrative markets for our produce," said Mrs Chituruse. Minister Masuka said Government will continue setting up the business units across the country.
"We have 35 000 villages and we plan to have 35 000 VBUs that will be done under the Whole-of-Government approach," said Minister Masuka.
Agricultural Rural Development Authority (ARDA) chief executive, Mr Tinotenda Mhiko said his organisation was rolling out the VBUs using the Whole-of-Government approach, with ARDA being the agronomist and scheme business manager.
Under the scheme, he said, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) is the water engineer while AMA will be responsible for marketing, with the Agricultural Finance Corporation providing funding.
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"The VBUs are managed under the V30 Accelerator Model which guarantees production and productivity for the business units and the household beneficiaries earn an average dividend of US$55 per month. They also provide labour at NEC regulated rates and are both employees and shareholders of the scheme," said Mr Mhiko.
The programme targets to roll out 35 000 village business units, 9 600 school business units and 68 Vocational Training Centre Business Units to economically empower over 1,8 million rural households.
With the launch of more VBUs continuing in different parts of the country, all indications point to the reclamation by Zimbabwe of its breadbasket status given various agricultural policies being spearheaded by the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa since it assumed office in 2017.
The village business units have also created downstream benefits with the companies contracted to drill boreholes under the Presidential Borehole Drilling Programme having created more than 1 000 jobs.
