The Sunday News
THE Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) board must be dissolved for sabotaging the agricultural sector, Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko said yesterday.
VP Mphoko said this after touring an idle multi-million dollar tomato canning plant at Arda Balu Estate in Umguza district. The project is the brain child of late Vice-President Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo that never took off.
“Why do we have a board that gets paid for absolutely nothing when there is no production at this place? These people clearly should not be here, they need to also explain clearly why after such a long time equipment is lying idle and yet they are supposed to be the leaders,” he said.
VP Mphoko said what was unfair is that the board responsible for the estate has clearly shown that they undermine the legacy of revolutionaries such as the late Father Zimbabwe and President Mugabe.
“It is unfair for someone who had the opportunity to run Arda property to leave it in this state; it is clear sabotage to the development of the people. What kind of board runs this place?” he questioned.
He said that it was difficult to retain Zimbabwe’s bread basket status in the Sadc region when there are ineffective leaders who can abandon a project of such multitude.
According to war veteran Cde George Mlala, Dr Nkomo sourced the equipment which was meant to be for a tomato and fruit juice canning project soon after independence.
“VP Nkomo started this project just after 1980 and his vision was to can tomatoes and other juices so that these could be sold to both local and outside markets but unfortunately it never took off and very few people have tried to get it to function over the years, to no avail,” he said.
“His intention was to have local farmers grow the tomatoes on the estate and then process them there as there is a large dam that is there that was going to supply water to the project.”
He said the late VP Joseph Msika also made attempts to seek investors who would see to it that the project took off.
Dr Nkomo’s dream was to also build a factory which would do all the processing and canning of fruit, with the factory housing machinery which he had sourced from Italy.
Machinery that is still to be used after 30 years includes electric motors, storage tanks, piping material, steamers, mixers and various farming implements like tractors, harvesters and sorting machines.
VP Mphoko was at pains to explain the situation at Balu Estates, saying it is a reversal of the gains of the land reform programme.
“I do not know what to say. What can be done here? This is such a waste of good machinery and land. President Mugabe is one of Africa’s resented leaders over the land reform project. He is heavily criticised in Western media over the land issue and then someone decides to sit on their job. No, this is worrisome,” he lamented.
During the tour it was also revealed that all Arda farms and irrigation schemes in Matabeleland are not functioning with machinery now obsolute and most of it vandalised.
VP Mphoko said countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia once relied on Arda for technological and expert advice from Zimbabwe after independence but the authority has since lost relevance as they cannot run home grown projects.
“This is not a sanctions issue, it is pure lack of discipline and corruption too, people who were responsible failed to utilise this machinery such that it has been lying idle for years. There were over 500 cattle that were part of the dairy project here but no one knows what happened to them or where they died if ever they did,” he said.
VP Mphoko said he is going to see to it that there is resuscitation of the 260 hectare estate.
