Beatific Gumbwanda

CHIREDZI-Renovations on the popular vegetable market ‘Banana Market’ in the light industrial site is nearing completion and is likely to benefit close to 500 vegetable vendors.
The works are being done by Chiredzi Town Council under the Urban Resilience Building Programme, where governments of Japan and Australia and their implementing partners World Food Programme (WFP) and Plan International injected US$ 43 000.
Chiredzi’s vegetable market, which was a ticking health time bomb due to lack of proper toilet system as well as running water has been a beneficiary from the funding set in order to improve food security and sustainable resilience capacities.
Chiredzi Town Council Acting Town Secretary Engineer Wesley Kauma said the project came at a time when the local authority was in dire need, with the funders installing a solar powered borehole as well as piped water scheme and vegetable shades that will accommodate both bulk vegetable sellers as well as retail vegetable sellers.
“We have a project called Urban Resilience Building Programme where governments of Japan and Australia are funding with the aid of their implementing partners, World Food Programme and Plan International covering eight wards in Chiredzi Town.
“The total funding is US$ 43 000 and main objective is to improve food security and sustainable resilience capacities. Chiredzi often experiences perennial droughts and of late, floods. There is also Cholera threats and Covid-19, so the programme is building resilience amongst the low income earners,” said Kauma.
The project is earmarked towards rehabilitation of the banana market, solar powered borehole and piped water scheme, poultry production, detergent production, hydroponics gardens and mushroom farming.
Engineer Kauma also highlighted that Plan International rehabilitated a market shed for vegetable retailers as well as a shed to accommodate wholesale vegetable vendors and piped water scheme.
“Plan International rehabilitated one market shed with a capacity to accommodate 150 vendors as well as a market shed for bulk vegetable sales that accommodates 50 traders. They also installed a solar powered borehole and constructed a piped water scheme including washing basin for vegetables.

“Chiredzi Town Council then constructed a new market shed and reconstructed the second shed, both with a capacity to accommodate 236 vendors,” said Kauma.
He also indicated that there are plans during the next phase of the programme to construct perimeter walls right round the markets so that trading is controlled and no person will be allowed to sleep inside the market as the premises will be locked after trading hours.
He also indicated that they intend to refurbish the existing structures and turn them into booking houses for long distance traders coming with their wares from different parts of the country.

Branton Matondo

With electricity now a thing of the night and power cuts lasting 18 hours over the duration of five days a week, meat producers and retail operators from Mutare have lamented on the dread brought about by the power crisis.
Power cuts have reached a climax in Mutare since the start of the year.
The rampant power cuts crisis has not spared the meat market sector and an inquiry on the state of meat marketers in Mutare has revealed that many retailers and meat producers are forced to resort to costly measures so as to cope up with the consistent power cuts.
Medium scale fish farming project Spring Glory fish that farms, harvests and sells its Tilapia produce in Mutare Central Business District (CBD) is one of the affected meat producing strongholds in the region.
Spring Glory Fish farm Coordinator Simon John lamented on the financial stress brought about by power cuts.
According to John, who manages the leading fish farming projects in Mutasa South Constituency, farming and preservation of fish has been put at high risk by the incessant power cuts that have ravaged Manicaland and Zimbabwe as whole.
“Load shedding has affected our business especially in terms of harvesting. This has forced us to supply the product at such a low price because fish is highly perishable. There is always no power to run blast/refrigeration machines in order to preserve our fish” said John.
Following the trend of incessant power cuts, TellZim News also got in touch with owners of butchers and meat markets in Sakubva and other parts of Mutare to hear their views on how business has been fairing.
A retail owner from Chikanga identified as Chinyanga said it’s very difficult to operate selling a perishable product in such strenuous conditions.
“The situation is not only hard for us but it’s also hard for both suppliers and the customers. It’s very difficult operating a business that bases on a perishable product like meat because you need electricity 24/7 to maintain that freshness. You find out sometimes that customers no longer want to buy meat from our butchers because they fear that they will buy rotten meat,” said Chinyanga.
Johannes Murombwa said business has gone as of late and it’s difficult to bounce back using generators.
“As for me, l incurred huge losses. It becomes even worse because using generators also requires more money in terms of fuel and maintenance. So in general, we can say the situation is very tough for all those who sell meat. At times the butcher is empty because it’s very difficult to sell meat without electricity around,” said Murombwa.
Zimbabwe estimations indicate that around 1 700 megawatts are needed daily to supply electricity for the citizens but the country has failed to meet a minimum of 1 000 megawatts mainly due to dilapidated power stations like ZPC Munyati and Harare power stations.
During the start of the year, power cuts extended from three to five days a week. The turnout for March and April saw most parts of Mutare power cuts becoming a daily routine with electricity visiting for not more than five hours during midnight and early morning hours.

Tinaani Nyabereka

Gweru- Poor street lighting and dysfunctional traffic lights in the city of progress continue to pose threats to the community.
The development was confirmed by ward 3 councillor Martin Chivhoko during a full council meeting held recently.
Gweru continues to experience deteriorating service delivery provisions in areas such as water and sewer reticulation lighting, road infrastructure among other things.
“What is the environment committee doing about the issue of lights? We always hear about areas such as Senga, Mkoba and Athlone but we never heard about anyone talking of areas which don’t have streets lights. Are you doing anything to improve street lights in areas which don’t have?
“Areas such as wards 3 don’t have tower lights and people continue to be robbed and mugged at bus stops, early in the morning and even at night. What is council doing to address this issue? We need to prioritize the safety of residents,” said Chivhoko.
Environment, Works and Town Planning committee member, ward 17 councillor Tawanda Magidi said the finance committee had not disbursed much funding for the lighting project.
“You happen to be the finance committee chairperson, the keepers of money, you are crying but you didn’t give us money for the lights,” he said.
Ward 15 councillor Trust Chineni who happens to be the chairperson of the Environment Committee said the issues of lighting were being looked at.
“Yes, we as council we passed the resolution to light up all our streets but some areas still are lagging behind.
“Also on the issue of traffic lighting, we said we are going to install new lights and leave Zhang’s like that. We still await to hear management’s decision as they said they will look into it as soon as possible,” Chineni said.
Gweru Acting Town Clerk Livingstone Churu said the issue of traffic lights was at their desk as management and work was in progress to see its commencement.
Gweru council has gone close to decades without proper functional traffic lights and this continues to pose serious threats to motorists and pedestrians at intersections.
Council has however revealed plans to install new traffic lights, side by side with the old ones, whose case is in court.
Last month Gweru Council Spokesperson Vimbai Chingwaramurasee said arbitration was taking too long to deal with pending traffic lights issues.
“As council, we realised that arbitration was just taking too long and for us it is indeed of paramount importance to ensure that we have traffic lights in the city of Gweru.
“So we have since resolved to have parallel robots running whilst those under arbitration will not be touched.
“We are going to have those very soon. Our team is on the ground to see how much that will cost us,” she said.

… As Tugwi-Mukosi dam creates vast opportunities for Masvingo

Perpetua Murungweni/ Beverly Bizeki

The government is set to replicate the tourist attraction system after Victoria Falls and Kariba towns in Chivi following the completion of Tugwi-Mukosi Master Plan which is set to open opportunities for both local and international investors.
This was revealed by the Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Ezra Chadzamira during an engagement meeting between residents, local government and the media organised by Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) in Masvingo on April 21; 2023.
“There is going to be a town around Tugwi-Mukosi where we are going to have universities, colleges or even residential stands and shopping malls. In fact we are going to replicate the system in Kariba or in Victoria Falls towns,” said Chadzamira.
With about 40 000 hectares (ha) of land set for irrigation, the dam is also set to turn Masvingo into a greenbelt following the availability of water for agricultural purposes.
“In agriculture, we are going to irrigate about 40 000 ha where we are going to get the water from the dam. Some of the water is already being used to water sugarcane plantations and some will also be invested into citrus farming,” added Chadzamira.
Tugwi-Mukosi with a combination of other dams is going to assist towards food security according to Chadzamira.
“With a combination of other dams, Tugwi-Mukosi is going to assist in food security as government has earmarked 70 000 ha of land under irrigation schemes,” said Chadzamira.
Chivi Rural District Council (RDC) Human Resources and Administration Officer Archibald Ncube who was representing Chivi Rural District Council Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tariro Matavire during the press club meeting also revealed that the local authority has earmarked residential as well as industrial stands.
“At the moment our growth point has 500 residential stands available for this year 2023 ready for our take, 14 stands for Flats as well as industrial stands on offer and 100 ha of land set aside for solar investment project. The power that is going to be generated is going to benefit the Chivi community.
“There is also land available for fish processing plants and crocodile farming,” said Ncube.
Chivi RDC and Masvingo RDC are the two administrative authorities over dam and have the responsibility to facilitate Tugwi-Mukosi investment opportunities around and within the dam.

Tinaani Nyabereka

Gweru- Farmers in rural areas have been encouraged to maximise agriculture production through adoption of market-oriented farming to unlock rural industrialisation.
This was said by the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, Climate and Rural Development Dr Anxious Masuka in Gweru while touring small scale farmer irrigation schemes last week.
“Rural areas have the potential to unlock rural industrialisation and that should be enhanced by availability of markets. His remarks came at a time when most farmers are busy harvesting their crops and focus to be shifted to competitive markets of the agricultural produce.
“The market must inform production and it is in this regard that we brought on board the Agriculture Market Authority of Zimbabwe and Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) for better agronomy and market viability. These are the agencies that must work with the communities to facilitate a business mindset for farming as a business so that we can maximise production and get better returns,” Dr Masuka said.
He further called upon farmers to run farming activities as businesses through applying business principles.
“We have fully utilised plots such as this one but when you go down there you find some empty plots which is why we want a new business model that ensures that agriculture land is put to practical use,” he added.
Agricultural Marketing Authority of Zimbabwe CEO Clever Isaya said it was gratifying that some of the produce from Insukamini Irrigation Scheme was of good quality and fit for the international market.
“Our mandate is to develop markets. We are developing local as well as international markets so that our farmers would be able to export their produce to other countries.
“What we have seen is that farmers are producing high quality products such as chillies, green pepper, sugar beans among others which I consider to be fit for export. If the standard is maintained and replicated across the country, I can assure you that the market share of Zimbabwe’s agricultural produce will expand,” he said.