Masline Mavudzi Herald Reporter
The Agriculture Rural Development Authority has secured $2 million to resuscitate its tomato processing plant in Norton that has been lying idle for the past five years. arda board chairman Mr Basil Nyabadza told The Herald yesterday that they had partnered Schweppes Limited to resuscitate the plant which is known as the arda Zagrinda.

He said refurbishment of the plant would start this month after which production would follow early December. This followed a visit to the plant by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko who gave arda the green light to venture into a partnership with private investors. “arda Zagrinda is a joint venture project between arda and the Development Trust of Zimbabwe. We are going to initiate two phases towards this project,” he said.

“The first stage is going to be initiated in Norton, Zvimba district; and, the second stage is going to be in Matabeleland South.” Mr Nyabadza said the project would create more jobs for the country. “We are looking forward to over 400 jobs related to downstream farming in the first stage of the project,” he said.

“During the second phase of the project, we want to engage with farmers — that is everyone who is interested in tomato farming. “So, if we get many farmers from all the 10 provinces, it simply means more jobs will be created — approximately 4 000 to 5000 workers depending on the capacity of raw materials needed,” he said. Mr Nyabadza said they were hoping to export tomatoes to generate the much needed money.