THE Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) is rolling out the creation and registration of Village Business Units (VBUs) as companies, in a development that has turned around the fortunes of rural farmers.
The rollout is in line with the Presidential Rural Development Program 8.0, which is an accelerator for the attainment of Vision 2030.
The VBUs are managed under the ARDA V30 Accelerator Model which guarantees profitability, viability and sustainability of the VBUs under the management of a resident ARDA VBU Manager.
ARDA Chief Executive Officer Mr Tinotenda Mhiko said the registration of village business units as companies is a gamechanger towards rural industrialisation.
The VBUs are being rolled out in a whole of a Government Approach to establish 35 000 one-hectare self-sustaining village business units powered by solar driven boreholes to support horticulture development in the rural communities.
“To this end we have synergistically collaborated with other agricultural entities such as ZINWA, Department of Irrigation (DOI), AARDS, AFC and AMA. ARDA is the Agronomist and Business Manager of the VBU, ZINWA is the Engineer and Department of Irrigation under our Parent Ministry (of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Dvelopment) is the Client.
ARDA oversees the agronomy and business management side of the value chain, ZINWA and DOI are responsible for irrigation infrastructure development, AFC for financing, AMA for marketing of produce, AARDS for training and extension,” Mr Mhiko said.
“Access to clean water has restored the dignity of our women and girls who used to walk for long distances to fetch water and who risked being abused at water points. Water is also a key enabler in productivity, and this guarantees profitability, viability and sustainability of the solar driven horticulture gardens whose production is market-led.
“Upon full roll out, the 35, 000 village gardens shall recruit a total of 105,000 youths (1 resident village business unit manager, 1 bookkeeper and 1 nightwatchman per VBU)”.
“The VBUs are supported by aggregation centres at Ward Level for the processing and aggregation centres facilitate grading, consolidation to build economies for scale, dispatch, and distribution to offtake markets. This catalyses the rural industrialization which in turn causes the rural development,” according to Mr Mhiko.
He added that currently over thirty-seven (37) VBUs have been registered and operationalised, benefitting at about 2 775 households.
Local markets have been secured to promote value addition and beneficiation with a net dividend per household per month of USD180 375 for the 37 established VBUs.
ARDA is a parastatal under the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development that was established through the ARDA Act (Chapter 18:01) of 1982.
In line with the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) and pursuant to Vision 2030, ARDA is driven by a new thrust to achieve National Food, Feed, Fibre, BioFuels and Seed Security.
Its mandate is to spearhead rural development and industrialisation through the deployment of technology and smart agricultural practices across Zimbabwe.
ARDA is on a robust transformational trajectory that is set to establish its foothold as a major player in the agriculture industry value chain, besides being an employer of choice for talent attraction and retention in the agriculture and agro-industry space.
In order to effectively deliver on its new mandate ARDA has established the following critical departments as it gears up to significantly contribute to the country’s economic growth: –Rural Development and Industrialization; Agriculture and Agro-Industry Development; Commercial Services; Corporate Services
