Curtains comes down on 2021 Walkathon

The main 2021 Edition of the Friends of the Environment came to an end yesterday as the environmental campaigners embark on the last lap from Featherstone to Chivhu. This lap covered a distance of 40km on the trot.The walkers embarked on the 142 km grueling journey on Wednesday, starting from the country’s capital Harare. Along the way, the walkers witnessed the diverse business and the different hustling that makes Zimbabwe tick, from well organized business operations which characterized the Central Business District to the hand to mouth dealings at Mbudzi roundabout which support the masses.

Commonly referred to as the Mbudzi Roundabout, in reference to the bustling business of goat selling in the adjacent areas, the traffic circle has been a huge source of frustration to motorists who would spend up to two hours covering a stretch of less than a kilometre during

peak hours due to the congestion. It is located at the crossroads of Simon Mazorodze, High Glen, Masvingo and Chitungwiza roads and caters for traffic coming into the city from as far as South Africa. Some motorists coming from the eastern parts of the country seeking to bypass the city also use the roundabout as they travel to the western and northern parts of the country and to countries in the north such as Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Besides the traffic jungle at the roundabout, the hustling for survival by the multitudes of the people who wake up in the wee hours of the morning to throng the area was a spectacle. In as much as some people come to Mbudzi to connect to different destinations, the majority of them are vendors of all sorts. Walkers witnessed people selling virtually everything fruits, sweets, drinks wears, you name it. In order to ensure that they go home having sold something the vendors have broken down their items to the smallest possible level.As the journey continued, a plethora of businesses could be witnessed. The first was the biggest tobacco auction floors at Boka. Although the flows are closed at the moment, its size

confirms the massive trade the goes through it. The walk finished off in Chivhu town, a fast-growing service centre which appears to be waking from slumber and encouraging the arrival of new investments, thereby ending the trajectory of years of stunted growth.

Chivhu is one of the early settlements established in the early 1890s, but despite its strategic location, it remained largely abandoned.The new lease of life is set

to come with the completion of Chivhu Dam, whose water will be utilised for mining activities around town as well as developing the surrounding farms and rural areas into a green belt zone, ultimately creating employment.

Friends of the Environment (FOTE) has joined in the creation of opportunities through its establishment of two tree seedling nurseries in the Chikomba district. These act as suppliers and learning centres for the local community as they explore tree production. FOTE has one of its nurseries at Masasa Primary School established in 2017 and another at Parugare Estate. The Parugare nursery will be officially opened as part of the Mashonaland East Province National Tree Planting Day commemorations on the 4th of December 2021, with the commemorations being a culmination of the 12th

edition of the 500 million tree walkathon from Harare to Chivhu.

The FOTE nurseries will be producing and average of

250 000 various seedlings each year which will be distributed in the community to create commercial

plantations and orchards upon which industrial developments can evolve into the future.

What makes Chivhu an area of great potential in the fruit and timber farming is that it is surrounded by prime agricultural land which gives it the push to grow as an agricultural town. It stands deep in the central beef lands

surrounding it and on flatlands ideal for massive irrigation projects. The potential can easily be unlocked with the coming in of an agro-processing industry to awaken the imaginable economic worth concealed in its strategic location.

FOTE will promote the planting of fruit trees to create food sufficiency as well as increase revenue streams at household level. The covid era saw a surge in demand for citrus trees as residents needed to be healthier to survive the pandemic. Lemons in particular where among the citrus trees in demand because of both the leaves and fruit medicinal qualities.The town lies on

the main road linking Beitbridge and Harare and is also linked by a road to Mutare and Gweru cities which gives it advantage as a distribution hub for the produce.

Crop farming is the main economic activity in area. Resettled A2 farmers are growing in numbers and most of them are moving into tobacco production as a way of improving their improving their livelihoods because of its nature as a cash crop of choice. The need to support the inclination to tobacco production has seen the establishment a number of gum plantations by Sustainable Afforestation Association, which is an amalgamation of tobacco merchants. FOTE has played a pivotal role through producing most of the seedlings for the establishment of the plantations. The rest of the

population survive on subsistence farming, cropping mainly small grains and rearing domestic animals at a localised level. The tillage challenges have seen most people embracing the government Pfumvudza programme to boost household production.

At a very minimal level some people survive on fishing, brick moulding and other water-reliant menial jobs as the district is located at the headwaters of the Munyati River and Sebakwe River.There are also some mining programmes in the Chikomba District which include

Mandizo Iron Mining 60 km from Main road. A Chinese company, Afrochine Smelting, which is a subsidiary of the world’s largest stainless steel producer Tsingshan Holdings, is already setting up infrastructure at the site which will stretch over areas such as Chivhu, Mvuma and Chirumanzu. A substantial number of jobs are expected to be created through direct employment,

subsequently creating downstream and upstream opportunities. The economic activities envisaged will be a boon for surrounding communities as mining takes place at Chivhu/Manhize areas.Currently devoid of industries, Chivhu residents are mostly self-employed, feeding off three gold mines that have attracted several youths. Scores of youths have joined the gold rush to exploit alluvial gold deposits in the Zoma area of Gutu North as well as in the periphery of the Great Dyke, where Chivhu lies. With all these current and potential activities and opportunities, it goes without saying that Chivhu is indeed a land that is bursting with potential and with the right efforts and resources, it will undoubtedly arise and shine.The walkathon ended in an official opening of Parugare Nursery, an auspicious event which was attended by various stakeholders, traditional chiefs of the area, honourable representatives of the state as

well as the Chikomba District community.