The Sunday Mail
TO drive our agricultural agenda towards Vision 2030, we need to eliminate the “export” of bread, mealie meal, milk, beef and poultry products from one province to the other.
Basil Nyabadza
To highlight this scenario, the example below is a reality today. Part of the bread consumed in Bulawayo is produced in Marondera or Harare. It is then transported to Bulawayo and beyond during the day or night, and this comes at a cost, as a lot of fuel is consumed while there is also wear and tear of the vehicles. Such costs are unnecessary.
The bread consumed in Dombotombo township, Marondera, carries the same price as the one consumed in Luveve, Bulawayo, which is a distance of about 1 200km, to and from. The following question arises: Who is paying for this cost and is it necessary? The technology of baking bread is well-developed within our economy.
Diesel is imported at a huge cost. How much waste is incurred on a daily, weekly, monthly or annual basis? Why is it that the companies that produce bread are not setting up bakeries in Bulawayo, Masvingo, Mutare or Gweru? The big question is: Do these firms make more money in transporting bread than baking?
The whole transportation of bread countrywide is underpinned by Government’s pricing structure; it is not based on market forces. Business intelligence will expose the ills trapped in this scenario.
The above analysis is applicable to mealie meal, milk, beef and poultry products. The resultant effect is that the Zimbabwean farmer is denied extra revenue due to unnecessary movement of value, leading to poor capitalisation on their respective farms. This is why the subject is critical for driving a profitable agenda for Vision 2030.
Lack of business intelligence within our food sector must be exposed through education. We welcome the analytical approach being extended by Education 5.0. Business intelligence will expose anomalies within our food industry. The number of cartels operating within the food industry will be exposed by an active business intelligence analysis unit.
Let us give examples to illustrate our observations.
Mashonaland West province retains the biggest grain silo units within our economy and yet it does not have a well-established milling facility. In other words, the bulk of the cereals is “exported” to other provinces for milling or processing. Mashonaland West should be the net “exporter” of maize or mealie meal to other provinces.
In other words, we expect Matabeleland South to “import” additional maize from Mashonaland West for milling, thereby creating employment.
The above situation will ensure additional money going to the farmer than the transporter. There is no justification to the current trend where maize from Karoi district is transported to Harare for milling, while the mealie meal is taken back to Karoi or Kariba towns for consumption. In such a scenario, the Zimbabwean farmer is not paid what is due to him/her. Instead, transporters are making a killing in moving value unnecessarily, in the process wasting imported fuel.
Milling, a bakery, an abattoir, and dairy and poultry activities are a must for each province.
We have found it necessary to decentralise other sectors like education and health institutions. Today, we speak of provincial hospitals and State universities in virtually all provinces. We also have the devolution agenda, guided by business intelligence.
There is room for a dedicated financial unit to respond to minimum requirements of rural Zimbabwe. The jury is out on the effectiveness of the Agricultural Finance Corporation in adequately addressing the needs of a common villager.
The development of villages underpinned by water and solar development infrastructure will grow a district’s Gross Domestic Product, thereby running the marathon to Vision 2030.
Funding of rural industrialisation is a real opportunity for venture capital.
In summary, we challenge our higher learning institutions to put together degree courses in Business Intelligence under the respective economic sectors.
Basil Nyabadza is an agriculture expert and former chairperson of the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority.
