Charles Dhewa
As confirmed by the recent Sanganai/Hlangani tourism expo held in Bulawayo, Zimbabwean tourism is associated with travel, recreation and pleasure only. In the African context where most economies are agro-based, the notion of tourism should be expanded to embrace knowledge sharing and agribusiness opportunities. At the moment Zimbabwean tourism focuses on national features like Victoria Falls and historical places like Great Zimbabwe Ruins, national parks, entertainment and traditional dance, which is a very small part of Zimbabwean culture.
The above touristic elements do not provide sufficient investment opportunities. Not much investment opportunities are availed by focusing on static features like Victoria Falls and Great Zimbabwe Ruins.
With advancement in technology, most tourists have a complete picture of such features without even visiting the sites. More-so, countries like South Africa can easily sell the Victoria Falls as part of their menu of tourist sites. That is why some tourists fly directly from South Africa to Victoria Falls in the morning and back to South Africa in the evening without exploring other opportunities in Zimbabwe.
Many tourists are business-minded people looking for potential business opportunities during their visits. On the other hand, the majority of Zimbabweans are involved in things that would attract many tourists. Unfortunately our tourism promotion efforts shun places like Mbare market, Binga and most rural areas where tourists can be exposed to cultural aspects that really make Zimbabwe special besides natural features.
Some tourists fly from Harare to Victoria Falls without getting a chance to appreciate the local culture through agriculture markets. In many countries including India, markets are an integral part of tourism. Why not in Zimbabwe? It is not enough to continue over-selling natural features and wild life. Rather than selling the carnival which is a South American tradition, why not promote what is uniquely Zimbabwean?
Towards agricultural tourism
Instead of organizing regional and global conferences in Victoria Falls, dialogue sessions can be arranged where tourists meet farmers, traders and other actors whose knowledge is worth globalising. Most tourists might be on holiday but may be looking for business opportunities given that a number of them are business people. That is why they often bring cameras and videos for capturing knowledge. They are very keen to talk to ordinary people such as youths, traders, women and farmers rather than getting an overview about the country from a Zimbabwe Tourism Authority official.
Agricultural tourism through markets can be a smart way for tourists to tap into local knowledge. Such knowledge includes socio-economic issues that are critical in every community. While Binga, Gwanda, Gokwe, Guruve, Chipinge, Mutoko, Muzarabani and other rural areas have cultural centres, what is missing in terms of content are key elements like economic drivers that speak to local food systems.
These integral components of people’s culture present potential investment opportunities for tourists. The dynamism, values, diversity of commodities and local agro-economic drivers in local markets can provide investment opportunities in exports, processing and others. It is from the market that mapping of potential investment opportunities along agricultural value chains can begin. As a trading centre, each market is a knowledge base where tourists can find experts in various commodities.
We have to revisit the way we are defining and promoting our tourism. Miss Tourism has to know enough about agriculture since it is the country’s major economic driver. Agricultural promotion should not be limited to events like trade fairs and agricultural shows which, besides happening once a year, represent 10 percent of our agriculture. We can build on informal agriculture markets that are always functioning on an on-going basis. This will ensure tourists do not just wait for events which happen once per year.
Promoting the local food basket and value chain actors
Some of the main actors in the country’s socio-economic activities include farmers, artisans, traders and markets themselves. Although these are what make an economy tick, they have not been availed to tourism promotions. Agriculture markets define our food basket, food security and nutrition. Unfortunately, these food baskets are not found in hotels, national and international events. In many African countries, one can easily get a sense of the country’s identity and sense of values by looking at food systems. Local recipes can be a way of marketing local areas and sharing knowledge which tourists are keen to acquire about a particular people’s culture.
The Buy Zimbabwe Campaign should not just be about manufactured products but promoting our traditional food basket in private and public institutions where a lot of knowledge can be shared about food sources and associated culture. While we import commodities like white rice, we are not doing much to promote our own products such as small grains (brown rice, pearl and finger millet), legumes (cowpeas), wild fruits (baobab, masawu, nyii) and tubers (sweet potatoes, madhumbe, tsangamidzi) for export. Extending the notion of tourism to agriculture markets will open export markets for most of these local products once they are appreciated by tourists.
While we import commodities like white rice, we are not doing much to promote our own products such as small grains (brown rice, pearl and finger millet), legumes (cowpeas) and wild fruits (baobab, masawu, nyii) for export
Unlocking post-harvest
investment opportunities
A lot has already been done to promote agricultural production through interventions by government, NGOs and the private sector. What is lacking are investment opportunities from post-production to markets. This includes transportation, processing, value addition and preservation. While production has its own technology such as tractors, boom sprayers, ploughs, planters and combine harvesters, there is no technology diversity on the post-harvest side.
Agriculture markets can present opportunities for exploring appropriate post-harvest technologies. Such opportunities are around processing, value addition, cold chains, warehousing, logistics, infrastructure development and access to finance.
Establishing knowledge
sharing platforms
Just like what happens in tourist centres, we need to establish institutions that can organise tours where tourists can learn about how African markets operate, the people, culture, commodities and value chains. Each market can have a place where knowledge is shared, for instance, around 70 different commodities in a particular market like Mbare.
Dialogue sessions can be convened at agriculture markets where tourists can share knowledge with farmers, traders, transporters, local authorities, food historians and many other actors. This is how investment opportunities can be identified. The main advantage of people’s markets is that they are apolitical. In most agriculture markets, politics is silent as everyone focuses on business and survival.
Linking agriculture markets
with the education system
Before we think of tourists from outside, our own local people should appreciate our agricultural markets as tourist areas. Schools, agricultural colleges, universities and policy makers should be promoting our local knowledge systems. At the moment, schools and colleges are organising trips from Harare and other cities to Victoria Falls yet they can learn more from visiting local markets such as Mbare, Bulawayo, Sakubva and many others. Urban markets like Mbare are becoming industrial hubs, surrounded by more than 500 different business types – manufacturing, agriculture equipment, inputs, processing, packaging, logistics, etc.
Engaging with local markets will enrich our school syllabus more than relying on textbooks from all over the world. School children and students will be exposed to knowledge sharing through markets where they access real practitioners who have been in business for more than five years. This can also enhance mind-set change among our youths as they start seeing opportunities in designing processing equipment, value addition activities and other potential ventures.
Increasing production through agricultural markets tourism
Agricultural markets define investment potential in each national region. By visiting trade centres such as Mbare, Malaleni, Sakubva markets and others, tourists should be able to see investment opportunities in Mashonaland, Matebeleland and Manicaland provinces respectively.
More than 90 percent of our investment should be anchored around agriculture — inputs, implements, processing equipment and, even production. Bananas on the market from Honde Valley and tomatoes from Murewa-Mutoko, point to investment opportunities in those areas and can enable investors to decide at which node along the value to start investing.
As agricultural trade centres, our markets should get the same support given to Victoria Falls, Hwange National Park and other tourist sites. In fact, agricultural markets can provide more value for tourists by exposing them to people’s unique values and economic drivers.
Charles Dhewa is a proactive knowledge management specialist and chief executive officer of Knowledge Transfer Africa (Pvt) (www.knowledgetransafrica.com) whose flagship eMKambo (www.emkambo.co.zw) has a presence in more than 20 agricultural markets in Zimbabwe. He can be contacted on: [email protected] ; Mobile: +263 774 430 309 / 772 137 717/ 712 737 430.