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Nduduzo Tshuma, Political Editor

“The gospel of the late Vice President, Cde Joshua Nkomo, was to do and not to talk only and his life was characterised by deeds. We at Arda believe that we are doing some of the things that he had cast his vision way ahead of the nation”

THE late Vice President Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo cast his vision way ahead of the nation as evidenced by his call for extraction of value from land which has found expression in the Command Agriculture programme.

VP Nkomo, who died on July 1, 17 years ago, had a strong appreciation of the significance of the agricultural value chain to the entire economy which was at the centre of the aspirations of the liberation struggle.

In his vision for emancipation of black people, the late Dr Nkomo pioneered a number of projects ranging from crop and livestock production, processing and canning of produce.

Command Agriculture, a brain child of First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe which President Mugabe assigned VP Emmerson Mnangagwa to supervise, is a specialised food production model that seeks to substitute imports and enhance food security.

The programme which initially covered grain production has been expanded to soya beans, cotton, wheat, fisheries and now livestock production.
ARDA chairperson Mr Basil Nyabadza said the late Vice President championed the development of rural communities through the full utilisation of land, a key component of Command Agriculture.

“The gospel of the late Vice President, Cde Joshua Nkomo, was to do and not to talk only and his life was characterised by deeds. We at Arda believe that we are doing some of the things that he had cast his vision way ahead of the nation.

“We are particularly aware that the best way to honour the Honourable Vice President is to carry out some of the visionary messages he outlined such as utilising the land to extract value and we believe that we are well on course to do that,” said Mr Nyabadza.

He said Command Agriculture had dispelled the notion that Matabeleland was only a cattle rearing area as cropping has proved to be an option and the next step is to even produce crops for export.

“We have a wonderful project which has taken root at Arda Maphisa and Arda Ingwizi in Mangwe district where we are doing cropping in addition to livestock and its really full utilisation of the Ingwizi Dam.

“The other project which is coming on board, which is directly linked to him (Dr Nkomo), is the establishment of both the out grower and canning of tomatoes and other horticultural products for export. By August next year, we believe that the factory should be running at Esigodini which is the Zigrenda factory for processing of tomatoes, mangoes, guavas and granadillas and this is where again his vision has been well captured by those who have remained and pursued that development of rural areas,” said Mr Nyabadza.

“He was particularly passionate about carrying out development that benefits our people particularly in the rural areas and we believe that Arda through the establishment of an out grower programme plus a processing plant right in Esigodini, is testimony to the vision of the late Vice President.”

Mr Nyabadza said Arda was in the process of establishing silos and dryers and constructing a milling facility in Maphisa with the vision of taking mealie meal to Bulawayo which is in line with the rural development drive.

He said Between Maphisa and Ingwizi, they were producing 60 percent of the Matabeleland South maize requirements so that the province is self reliant.
“We are also pursuing that on abattoir products and we are looking at setting up a dairy so that there is adequate supply of milk in the province. That is our vision but of course building on what the late Vice President started.

“Command Agriculture is going to look at breeding material and slaughter material. All come from a breeding base, this is why we are saying we might see different wording and different titles but the vision of empowering the villager was the cornerstone of his (Dr Nkomo)’s preaching,” said Mr Nyabadza.

In an interview with Chronicle ahead of the 16th anniversary of Dr Nkomo’s death, former Zipra intelligence supremo, Dr Dumiso Dabengwa shared the late Vice President’s vision that covered various sectors of the economy.

Dr Dabengwa said after Independence in 1980, Dr Nkomo had a vision for the development of the country captured in his “green book” published in the same year.

“He (Dr Nkomo) looked at a number of other developmental strategies which he thought needed to be implemented. In agriculture for instance this is why he went on to buy that huge farm, Nuanetsi Ranch and his main vision was that it should be a farm that produces pedigree cattle whose bulls would  help improve the national hered,” said Dabengwa.

“There were plans to develop sugar fields alongside the Triangle sugar estates and these were to be developed by black farmers. Nuanetsi Ranch was to have its own sugar mill to produce a variety of other by- products such as ethanol and syrup.”

Dr Dabengwa said Nkomo also made strides in empowering the black majority in the mining sector.

“He looked at mining and realised that most of the mines were owned at that time by the multi nationals. Indigenous miners did not have the qualifications and he decided to bring in people that would be prepared to train the black on modern mining methods.

“He brought in for instance the Russians who formed Development Trust of Zimbabwe (DTZ) to mine gold in the Penalonga area and the idea was to get DTZ to use that experience that they had to open up more alluvial gold mines along our rivers, which would be owned by black miners and they would be trained on exactly how to extract that gold along the river valleys.”

On coffee plantations, Dr Dabengwa said Nkomo bought Vumba Coffee Estates where again DTZ started growing sugar for the purpose of producing it and broadening the coffee production to indigenous farmers around those areas along the Vumba mountains.

He said Dr Nkomo’s vision was to have coffee produced in Zimbabwe and exported to other countries.

Dr Dabengwa also made reference to the tomato canning projects initiated by Nkomo in Norton and Esigodini.

“Nkomo wanted development and his idea was to develop projects in all the provinces of Zimbabwe. In Mashonaland West, he had a timber project which he wanted undertaken,” said Dr Dabengwa.

He said Dr Nkomo also had projects he wanted to implement in Mavuradona Mountains, Mt Darwin.

“On the Kariba Dam, he had an idea of a big tourist resort that would be developed not far from the  Kariba Dam wall, about 30 or so kilometres west of the Dam Wall at a point which used to be called Wafa Wafa.

“He wanted to develop the hard wood timber areas in Tsholotsho, Lupane, Nkayi and Gokwe and wanted the timber processed and sold to those producing finished products such as furniture, doors, flooring tiles and other such products thereby creating jobs.”