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Rutendo Rori Mash East Correspondent
Mashonaland East will mainly focus on value addition of agricultural produce and extracted minerals, in order to boost its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Apollonia Munzverengi has said.

In an interview with The Herald, Minister Munzverengi said a special economic zone had been designated and would be developed in the near future.

“Value addition is the main thrust for us to be able to generate more GDP for our province.

“We have our special economic zone designated that is going to be developed in the near future. In that zone, we want to see a tomato processing plant for tomato puree, sauce and paste.

“We also want to process our milk in the province so that we supply our people and export the excess to other provinces,” she said.

Minister Munzverengi said there were plans to reopen the provincial Cold Storage Commission (CSC) plant.

“Furthermore, we’re looking at reopening our Cold Storage Commission, which is one of the biggest CSC’s in the country. We are also trying to identify serious livestock farmers and we have reserved Chivhu area since there are good pastures for livestock.

“We are reorganising our agricultural set-up since Mashonaland East is based on agriculture. We want to identify our farmers and their specialties. We want farmers who can produce wheat for Proton Bakers. All we are waiting for is the distribution of resources in terms of devolution,” she said.

Minister Munzverengi also urged farmers in all the provincial districts to embrace castor bean farming.

“Castor bean farming is also on our devolution agenda and farmers in Mutoko and Macheke have already embraced it. The crop survives for five years and that’s smart agriculture. Castor bean production will uplift us as a province,” she said.

Turning to the mining sector, the minister said there were plans to establish a gold processing centre in Makaha, Mutoko.

“We are working together with the Ministry of Mines through our provincial mines. We want to establish a gold processing centre in Makaha. It is one of our biggest deposit areas in terms of gold mineralisation.

“We have medium- and small-scale miners in the name of artisanal miners. Therefore, we would want to see a situation where there is order, miners are formalised and organised. They operate within a 20km radius and are mechanised, the gold ore is brought to the mining processing centre, and all the gold is channelled to Fidelity (Printers and Refiners)

“Artisanal miners in Mutoko and Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe have been playing hide and seek with the police but eventually they were allowed to formalise their activities.

“What is required now is for both stakeholders, the Mines Ministry and those in charge of these small-scale miners to work together and educate them on how best they can look after the areas they are mining, fill  up the holes they are digging and assist them to do proper shafting.”

She also said there were plans to have a cutting and polishing plant for granite.

“Currently, there are two companies that intend to start mining iron in Manhize, Chivhu District. The companies are going to add value to our iron ore. They are going to process the steel and it is going to be a major boost to our province in terms of mining.

“We are taking stock of all the minerals that we have. The President recently launched the Arcadia Lithium Company in Goromomzi and I am happy to say that lithium in Goromonzi is one of the biggest deposits in the country, number five in Africa and number eight worldwide.

“The mineral is going to raise our GDP. It’s going to boost our employment. For a start,  the company will employ about 700 people and when they fully establish, they expect to employ a total of 3 000 people,” Minister Munzverengi said.

“We have also asked our local authorities to give us their implementation plans in terms of priority, then we will sit down as a province, share notes and agree on projects.

“We don’t want to see projects splashed all over, and then they go for years without completion.”

Provincial Administrator Mr Tavabarira Kutamahufa said his team was ready to work with Government in implementing the devolution concept.

He said the province would also focus on tourism and cultural heritage.

“We’re quite overwhelmed with the devolution idea and as soon as it’s implemented we will rally behind our provincial minister and the system to make things work. For now people need training so that it becomes functional.

“We are going to focus on tourism and cultural heritage. We need to develop a number of sites so that we generate income. We have our Imire Game Park, ruins in Mutoko and Murehwa. We also have the Jerusarema or Mbende dance which originates from Murehwa,” he said.

Mr Kutamahufa said the province would also take advantage of the transnational highways which are Harare-Mutare-Beira, Harare-Chivhu-Beitbridge, Harare-Nyamapanda which links Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique.

“We are also closer to Harare and it’s easy to export our horticultural produce.

“We have potential diamonds in Mahusekwa and we also have iron deposits in Chikomba. All these things will become a focus of the province.

“It is quite exciting because if devolution is implemented, it will bring closer services and development initiatives,” said Mr Kutamahufa.