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Zimbabwe is expecting to harvest four million tonnes of food crops from the 2016-17 agricultural season and this means there will be a surplus of one million tonnes of food

Herbert Zharare Deputy News Editor
The successful launch of Command Agriculture and Presidential Input Support Schemes might be a panacea to the revival of the fading concept of Growth Points in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is expecting to harvest four million tonnes of food crops from the 2016-17 agricultural season and this means there will be a surplus of one million tonnes of food. These food crops include maize, sorghum, millet, roundnuts, groundnuts, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, cowpeas, squash, sugar-beans and pumpkins.

For the country to score such a huge success against the backdrop of Western sponsored economic sanctions, Sakunda Holdings funded the 2016-17 agricultural season to the tune of $192 million. Together with President Mugabe’s support for the underprivileged farmers, the country is expected to produce a record four millions tonnes of food.

Given that already Government has secured almost half a billion to fund the 2017-18 agricultural season, the yield definitely is going to shame critics and the country can once again become a net exporter of food to the region and beyond.

As the country angles to produce huge quantities of food and possibly reclaim its breadbasket status in the region, where does that leave Growth Points in Zimbabwe? Can Growth Points take advantage of Command Agriculture and relaunch themselves and once again become centres of excellence that champion rural economic development? A health country is always productive as morbidity is reduced, resulting in people expending their productive time on economically viable activities. But it is intriguing to give historical background of Growth Points in Zimbabwe.

The concept of growth point is a unique endeavour by central governments to help decentralise development to remote parts of the country in order for the general populace to receive some essential services.

Growth Points are centres of economic activities, which are artificially created or stimulated in disadvantaged regions with the intention that they will eventually become centres of economic growth. A communal area with huge resource base can be a focal point for development, because it has the potential to attract investors and eventually become a hub of economic activities in rural areas.

The development is expected to cascade down to other underdeveloped surrounding areas by improving the provision of essential utilities, therefore, increasing the standards of living of the community through decentralisation of economic activities.

The question is as Zimbabwe celebrates the success of Command Agriculture, authorities and experts in rural development should be crafting strategic and sustainable plans that outline how the quality of rural life can be transformed through this national food initiative.

In Zimbabwe, Growth Points were introduced in 1978 as part of the policy document called “Integrated Plan for Rural Development” which promoted regional planning. This plan designated 10 growth centres in communal areas in Zimbabwe namely Chisumbanje, Gutu, Jerera, Mataga, Maphisa, Murehwa, Mushumbi, Nkayi, Sanyati and Hwedza.

It is critical to note that after this policy document was published, more growth centres were established in independent Zimbabwe as the new Government sought to spread development to previously disadvantaged areas by the colonialists, who pushed them to dry and infertile soils.

The designation of the centres was adopted after Independence in 1980 as part of the Government’s policy that embodied growth with equity as it was felt that for general economic development to succeed at a national scale, regional inequalities had to be drastically reduced.

For decades now, some growth points have remained small service centres consisting only of Government offices and a few shops and no industries were established. It is against this backdrop that strategic rural development planners should therefore use the Command Agriculture concept and ensure that the Growth Points once again become robust centres of excellence and sustainable development.

Statistics show that maize production in most rural areas increased by an average 350 percent, supporting the need to have value addition facilities at Growth Points. Surely, we appreciate that there has been a number of challenges encountered in applying growth centre strategies in developed and developing countries.

Funds allocated by Government for growth point development were not adequate, hence infrastructural and service provisions could not cater for industries. Some small businesses did not take off at all, while those that were formed either closed or downscaled to levels of home industries.

But with Command Agriculture and the Presidential Support Scheme, we expert massive economic activities in these Growth Points characterised by serious value addition of these agricultural commodities. With Command Agriculture, we expect to see serious milling companies backed by indigenous Zimbabweans establishing bases at Growth Points and leverage on the readily available raw materials.

What stops companies managed by young Zimbabwean entrepreneurs and based at Growth Points processing mealie meal, paster, venturing into green mealies and peas as well as beef canning.

The rapid growth of cotton industry saw the emergency of ginneries within the respective areas and their environs, creating employment and a huge market for secondary goods and services. Some Growth Points such as Gokwe, that are known for growing cotton, enjoyed economic growth and the promotion of the crop through Command Agriculture, these areas can enjoy massive growth.

Locating a company at source of raw materials has vast advantages such as cheap labour, raw materials and transport costs among others. The communities will also enjoy economic empowerment through providing employment and general downstream benefits.

But for the Growth Points to leave a huge footprint in the country’s economic development agenda, there is a need to address a handful of challenges being faced.

Growth point centres in Zimbabwe are located in communal areas, which is State owned land reserved for future development, thus captains of industry operating in such areas at times have no property rights.

Technically, these firms cannot use the land as collateral, therefore, financial institutions cannot accept the leasehold agreement. Most businesses use title deeds as security to get loans to expand their businesses.

Most growth centres designated for Growth Points do not have the requisite potential or strong human resource base from where to ignite the process of cumulative and subsequent growth, leading to the stagnation of growth centres.

The structure of the education system in Growth Points equipped learners with basic knowledge of up to Ordinary Level as well as vocational training where the later imparted skills are suitable just for home or cottage industry.

This does not have much impact to modern day industrialisation and if properly addressed, the Growth Points might not attain much benefits from Command Agriculture. It’s sad for rural farmers to toil hard on land, produce crops that are bought for a song by black marketers and never to benefit from the value that is later created.

Only a few Growth Points have graduated into towns thus achieving the goal of triggering national industrial development. For example, Mupandawana Growth Point has grown into a town, thus showing the applicability of the growth point policy as a development strategy in Zimbabwe.

Rural urban migration has a negative impact on urban centres as it overburdens utilities that were just meant for a few residents. Harare has over two million people who live and stay in the city and had authorities promoted the growth point concept, there will be less pressure on the urban infrastructure.

Its only industries in urban centres that have benefited from large influx of labour and increased market from growth centres, thus there is adequate supply of cheap labour for industries.