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Patrick Chitumba, Online Writer

THE Presidential Rural Development Programme continues to make progress as the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) successfully established and operated 160 village, school and youth business units across the country. 

Mrs Marjorie Munyonga, Zinwa’s corporate communications and marketing manager, highlighted the program’s objectives in a recent statement.

Implemented through a whole of Government approach, the programme aims to drill and equip 35,000 boreholes—one for each of the country’s 35,000 villages. 

“The boreholes then form the anchor component for the establishment of Village Business Units, which typically entail a solar powered borehole, 10 000-litre water storage tanks, a one-hectare drip irrigation technology horticulture garden, fishponds and communal water points. The authority is also expected to establish 9 600 School Business Units (SBU) and 4 500 Youth Business Units (YBU),” she said.

While Zinwa is responsible for the setting up of infrastructure for the business, schools and youth business units, Mrs Munyonga said, the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) has the responsibility to register these units as formal companies and to help viably manage the business units in which community members are both shareholders and employees. 

“The Agricultural Marketing Authority helps develop the business case for the units and establish markets for their produce while the Agriculture Finance Corporation (AFC) provides funding for the business units,” she said.

Mrs Munyonga said as at March 5 a total of 127 Village Business Units had been established across the country, while 33 School Business Units and six Youth Business Units had also been established.  

She said since the launch of the Presidential Rural Development Programme in 2021 communities have benefitted from the programme with some beneficiary villages earning as high as US$3 000 in dividends and as much as US$50 in monthly payouts.

“To help ease the water situation in the country in view of the cholera outbreak and the drought conditions, Zinwa has also drilled and equipped with bush pumps, a total of 730 boreholes countrywide. Of these boreholes 74 were drilled in Manicaland, 35 in Mashonaland West, 63 in Mashonaland East, 101 in the Midlands, 49 in Matabeleland South, 136 in Masvingo, 52 in Bulawayo, 83 in Harare and 89 in Matabeleland North. In Mashonaland Central 48 boreholes were drilled and equipped with bush pumps,” said Mrs Munyonga.