Story by Providence Maraneli
THE Jinjika Presidential horticulture garden in Mangwe District of Matabeleland South has been hailed as a shining example of the government’s flagship rural development model for transforming livelihoods.
The Agriculture Rural Development Authority (ARDA) has since reaffirmed its commitment to transforming the government’s flagship project into a successful and sustainable business venture.
ARDA CEO Mr Tinotenda Mhiko said, “Farming is both a science and a business and the V30 accelerator model addresses both aspects through viability, sustainability and profitability and through our resident manager, we have deployed a variety of crops and the beneficiaries are earning foreign currency and this is a huge milestone.”
The government has identified rural horticulture schemes and other programmes like poultry and goat schemes as catalysts to the rural industrialisation drive.
Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development, Dr Anxious Masuka noted, “Clearly what you can see is that this garden is viable and with viability comes sustainability, they borrowed ZWL$1 million from AFC bank and they have returned the loan.”
The government intends to establish rural horticulture gardens in each of the country’s 35 000 villages with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development intending to purchase at least 80 borehole drilling rigs to support the vision.
