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Patrick Chitumba-Midlands Bureau Chief

GWERU-based Mkoba Teachers College in the Midlands province has started producing vegetable and fruit pickles, herbs and liquid fertilisers in line with Education 5.0 philosophy.

The liquid fertilisers are made from plant and animal residues.

The development mirrors the vision of the Second Republic of having tertiary institutions producing graduates with practical problem-solving skills and the ability to be employers as opposed to looking for work after graduation.

The incubation hubs that the Government set up at tertiary institutions are already bearing fruits and showing a big light at the end of the 2030 vision tunnel.

Mkoba Teacher’s College has followed the National University of Science and Technology (Nust), which has established a plastic container making, honey and fruit processing factories and the Midlands State University (MSU), which came up with a farm produce preservation initiative.

In line with the philosophy of President Mnangagwa’s Government of leaving no one and no place behind in national development and personal advancement, tertiary institutions have become home to startup businesses and innovations aimed at producing6 practical solutions to society’s problems.

Mkoba Teachers’ College is already producing laboratory chemicals that are ready to be sold to secondary schools for use even in examinations.

Its pickles products are the brainchild of the college’s Agriculture Department while preservation methods are generated by the Science department. Mkoba Teacher’s College has also produced instant porridge made from an indigenous turmeric tree.

Once certified, the porridge will be sold commercially including to institutions like schools.

In line with value addition philosophy, fruits such as mangoes, oranges and the guavas are grown at the college.

President Mnangagwa has called on institutions of higher learning to offer productive and responsive higher education, relevant to the needs of the economy, by harnessing knowledge and skills that promote economic development through science, technology and research.

Since the advent of the Second Republic, the Government has been implementing bold programmes of national economic reconstruction and social transformation to create national wealth and lift millions into prosperity.

The Government has prioritised developing educational capabilities to catapult science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, under the heritage-based Education 5.0 philosophy.

 Located in Mkoba, the college is now waiting for Standard Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) certification before mass production of the products. Sent to SAZ are organically produced vegetable and fruit pickles, laboratory chemicals, herbs and liquid fertilisers. The products were made by students with the assistance of their lecturers.

In an interview at the college on Monday, Agriculture head of department Mrs Emmah Gonye said the liquid fertilisers were made from plant and animal residues and hence organic.

“Organic liquid fertiliser is derived from naturally existing products such as plants and animal manure. This makes it a sustainable product. We are using waste from animals such as rabbits and chicken to make organic fertiliser that provides much-needed nutrition to plants and soil as well,” she said.

Mrs Gonye said the institution also has herbal teas produced by the students which are an outcome of the college’s adoption of the heritage knowledge systems.

“I can safely say we have started to carve a niche in terms of production and productivity as it has started producing vegetable and fruit pickles, herbs and liquid fertilisers. Laboratory chemicals will be sold to secondary schools for use even in examinations.

 “We are also producing instant porridge made from an indigenous tamaric tree. Once certified, the porridge will be sold commercially including to institutions like schools.”

Mrs Gonye said the college’s products are organic and therefore healthy to consumers and friendly to the environment.

“We have a wide range of vegetables, pickles or tinned vegetables. We produce tinned bananas, beetroot salad, onion, and chilli peppers. These products are ready for eating. The shelf life is 6 months,” she said.

Acting principal Mr Martin Mukwazhe said they have been using the products at the college.

“There are various herbs that we are processing as an institution. We are making chemicals for schools like sodium hydroxide and indicators used in laboratories for carrying out tests. We are actually selling these products to local schools at a subsidised price because it is our duty to provide a service to the community we operate from,” he said.

Mr Mukwazhe said what was pleasing to note was the fact that some of the innovations came directly from the students doing projects.

“With the demand for new philosophy to train students who must be able to produce for themselves and for the community at large, we are glad that our students are actually the brains behind some of the innovations. We know that once a student passes through this college, he or she can be a teacher while being an entrepreneur,” he said.

Mr Mukwazhe said the college also raises chickens, rabbits and runs their own cutting and designing section. 

“We are now feeding our students from what we are producing at the college. We are making our own graduation gowns and printing our own documents,” he said.

Mr Mukwazhe said soon, they are launching a red book called Ishasha red book, for primary to secondary examination classes.

“We brought together examination markers, educationists and came up with past examination question papers for different subjects. We want first to make the red book available to the schools in Mkoba and Gweru at large so that we contribute to an increase in pass rate through it,” he said.

“Through Education 5.0, the education sector is anchored on the pillars that include teaching, research, community service, innovation and industrialisation. Our students are hands-on in producing these products. They are the ones who are doing all this work.”

In the wake of a depressed industry characterised by low productivity and endless importation of goods and services, Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Minister, Professor Amon Murwira, reiterated the need to get the education system to work for the nation as it moves to become a middle-income economy as enunciated by President Mnangagwa’s vision 2030.

“As a Second Republic, we have decided to provide this capital for start-ups. The college is directed to immediately start an innovation and industrialisation programme that allows graduates to form start-ups. These start-ups could be establishing new schools, new factories for manufacturing teaching materials and apparatus and so on. 

“This translates to saying that we can establish industries related to the whole education system. As mentioned before, examples can be establishment of simple teaching aids manufacturing factories, a pencil manufacturing industry, production and printing of learning materials among others,” he said last week in an address during the Mkoba Teacher’s College graduation ceremony.