Press release from the Joint Ethanol Project Advisory Committee
Chisumbanje Residents
Chipinge, 14 October 2011
Prior to the commencement of the ethanol project, ARDA’S estates, Middle
Sabi and Chisumbanje, had been adversely affected by the negative economic
climate and hyperinflationary environment prevailing up to 2008. The estates
were totally derelict with water pumping units and agricultural equipment in
a state of complete disrepair. Workshops housing agricultural machinery were
in a sorry state informing of the urgent need for capital injection at
Middle Sabi and Chisumbanje. The impact of this was evident on the huge
workforce that ARDA laid off and the dilapidated state of the community
irrigation schemes which relied on technical assistance from ARDA for their
survival.
ARDA needed credible investors. An important factor for ARDA was to:
– Come up with a format to attract financing considering the unjustified and
unfavourable investment perception harboured by the generality of investors
on Zimbabwe as an invesmtnet destination- hence the Build, Operate and
Transfer partnership model.
– Identify from an array of wiling partners investors with sufficient
financial commitment and organisational muscle to inject capital into a
massive infrastructural rehabilitation programme within and beyond the
estates, and to re-mechanise all business units while pursuing a vibrant
social responsibility agenda for the benefit of rural community in
Chipinge – in line with ARDA’S institutional mandate of rural development.
To date ARDA’s B.O.T (Build, Operate and Transfer) venture with Macdom and
Rating at Chisumbanje and Middle Sabi respectively has created 4 265 jobs
and as the project progresses to the next phases, by 2014 over 10 000 fully
trained local Zimbabweans will have been employed in the agricultural,
construction and manufacturing divisions of the ethanol project. The planned
construction of the Condo Dam for increased water volumes required along
Save River, will create more jobs for the rural populace. The agricultural
dimension of the project is highly mechanized and to cater for the skills
gap created by the use of latest high tech equipment, training centres have
been established on both estates to absorb local school leavers for on job
training programmes. Further to this, a steel fabricating unit has been
established in Harare with a staff establishment of over 100 artisans
involved in the manufacture of a range of parts required for the ethanol
project. 13 Local commuter bus companies in Chipinge have been contracted to
ferry labour from the villages to the project site on a daily basis. More
importantly, 30% of the artisans employed in the distillery and boiler
sections of the ethanol project are Zimbabweans previously based outside the
country in South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique.
A priority within the investment programme is to ensure that ARDA has
capacity to carry out its institutional mandate of rural agriculture
development. Through Rating, the agricultural company at Middle Sabi, ARDA
has been able to rehabilitate 18 community irrigation schemes located in a
25 kilometer radius around Middle Sabi. These schemes are a source of
livelihood for 2 861 families and form part of the horticultural belt which
has traditionally fed the local industry with fresh produce for processing
and overseas marketing. A Small Scale schemes water engineering department
has been created at Middle Sabi to supervise the water conveyance systems of
these schemes to ensure sustainable viability.
Prior to the implementation of the B.O.T, the ZINWA water pumping units at
Middle Sabi was completely broken down. This unit is a lifeline for the
estate and close to 60 resettled farmers located along the 25 kilometer
canal. Through the B.O.T, ARDA was able to attract financing for the
rehabilitation of the pumping unit subsequently reviving A2 commercial
farming through consistent and adequate water supplies. ARDA’s investment
programme with its B.O.T partners carries a commercial out grower component
which targets individual farmers keen to grow sugarcane for supply to the
mill. The farmers are supplied with all the technical assistance in the form
of land preparation for 10 hectares and inputs whose costs are deductable
from their total sales after harvesting. To date 650 hectares have been
developed in the pilot programme and handed over to the 116 war veterans who
have been farming on ARDA land on lease agreements.
Chipinge South falls under climatic region 5 which is characterized by poor
rainfall pattern. In the context of the B.O.T between ARDA and Macdom at
Chisumbanje, 4000 hectares of land is being developed for community
irrigation at a rate of just 500 hectares per year. This will effectively
migrate communal farmers from dry land farming to irrigation and give the
farmers control over their yields. To date just under 200 hectares of land
have been fully developed and inputs, in the form of maize and fertilizer,
have been sourced sufficient to crop 200 hectares, for the first batch of
farmers to benefit from the scheme. The irrigation development targets
farmers who have been using ARDA land prior to the B.O.T implementation.
Through Macdom at Chisumbanje, ARDA has commenced rehabilitative works on
key public service facilities which include schools, roads and health
centers. Work has commenced in this direction with initial focus on
educational facilities on both estates and the major health referral centre
closest to Chisumbanje -St Peters Hospital at Checheche with constructive
repairs and giving additional capacity through the construction of new
structures to cater for the swelling service demand created by the volumes
of staff on site.
On average, US $2 million is injected into Chipinge South every month as
wages, salaries and procurement finance for construction material. This has
resulted in increased commercial traffic. The newly constructed mobile
communication boosters by the three major companies in and around
Chisumbanje, the new branches of 5 commercial banks, reports from the
Chipinge Rural District council of a swell in the demand for commercial and
housing stands at Checheche from around 100 applications before the project
to over 2000 – all inform of an upward trend in commerce in Chipinge South.
On the 19th of October in 2009, an official launch of the project was
conducted. This brought together various stakeholders from the community who
included traditional leaders, government officials from various ministries,
council officials, ARDA and the investors. A major outcome from the launch
was an idea to create a forum to oversee the implementation of the project
with a responsibility to protect the livelihoods of the people who had been
farming within the designated Greater Chisumbanje area. The Chisumbanje
Joint Ethanol Project Advisory Committee (JEPAC), a locally constituted
community development forum, was created. JEPAC has an immediate mandate to
develop a sustainable irrigation model for the affected dry land farmers so
that their livelihoods are maintained or improved. JEPAC has the
chairmanship of the Chipinge District Administrator and comprises
representation from the traditional leadership through the paramount Chief
Garahwe and his council of headmen, Chipinge Rural District Council, ARDA,
local police and Agritex. Within JEPAC, there are ground committees headed
by the headmen and the area counsellor whose immediate responsibility is to
ensure that as the community irrigation development rollout programme is
implemented, deserving beneficiaries affected by the project are given
priority to migrate from dry land farming.
From JEPAC