Government’s rural industrialisation drive pays off
Story by Kenias Chivuzhe
A Makoni district-based firm has scaled up production of groundnut seed and is now supplying other provinces beyond Manicaland, a confirmation of the impact of the government’s rural industrialisation drive.
The establishment of the seed manufacturing plant in Makoni District which is producing groundnut and bean seed under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa Programme has created huge opportunities for contracted local farmers.
“They give us seed for various crops that include groundnuts, sunflower, maize and soya beans as we sell our produce to him,” said one of the farmers.
Another added, “The groundnuts are processed locally. This has created employment with the seed being readily available.”
“Farming inputs are very critical in ensuring the success of the agriculture season. We are happy that the government is providing several inputs with traditional grains and groundnuts being offered,” said another local farmer.
The plant, located in a rural area, has created employment opportunities for villagers, thereby transforming the local economy.
“The company employs workers from the villages thereby helping us to pay school fees and have disposable income,” said one of the workers.
Another worker added, “This company has helped the local community a lot. We can fend for our children. The company employs even without ‘O’ levels and that’s helping us.”
“I repair machinery here if there are any breakdowns.” said another worker.
“We are dispatching groundnut seeds daily to GMB depots. The machine is helping us to produce more seed as we rush to meet demand this cropping season,” another reiterated.
The firm is upbeat about meeting groundnut seed requirements for Manicaland, Masvingo and Manicaland provinces under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme.
“We were contracted to supply seeds under the Pfumvudza programme. We do groundnuts and we have a contract to supply Midlands, Masvingo and Manicaland. We produce 40 to fifty tonnes per day and if we have night shifts we can reach 60 tonnes. The workers come from rural areas. We also process at least a dozen crops here and we have an out-grower scheme we are running to sustain our operations,” said Reapers PVT Company chief executive officer, Mr Basil Nyabadza.
The company, which has another plant in Zvimba District of Mashonaland West province, is on an expansion drive which will see the firm producing stock feed.
