The Rural Economy & it’s Untapped Potential

05/02/2020Last Updated: 05/02/2020

106 3 minutes read

How did the black man end up being a town dweller?

I think a black man has no business staying in town, that's treason to the future generations!

The day was July 1, 1898, when the colonial masters thought of building a new economy in a so-called dark continent with dark people, who were living like ‘savages'.

Firstly, they took all the fattest and healthiest cattle, from the black man…destroying the only source of wealth he had. On top of that, he was driven to arid unfertile lands and told not to keep more than 8 cattle.

Next, the plan was simple, introduce
1. Hut tax
2. Dog tax
3. Animal tax
4. Add more

This forced our grandfathers to move to towns in order for them to be able to pay those taxes. Failure to pay taxes a black person would be forced to work in the construction of railways, roads, dams and trenches.

Look at the houses which were built in townships like Mbare! These were bachelor quarters and were never meant to be lived for generations and generations.

The worker was just supposed to stay for a short period and return ekhaya as fast as possible. The whole urban setup was meant to carry a small number of workers and not the kind of numbers we see today.

Look at the road networks, sewage and water systems and other critical infrastructure, they were built to serve only a chosen few. Kariba was built not for the whole nation but to power the colonial economy.

The rural area was underdeveloped to the extent that the black man hated his own roots. Everything rural was either taken away or was destroyed… even African names were changed.

There was virtually nothing comfortable about rural life…no water, electricity, schools, hospitals, roads! YOUR kids don't hate kumusha, they hate the hard life there, change it!

Look at developed countries, only the rich live in rural areas. They don't call them rural areas but country settlements. Some of the most beautiful mansions in the world are in rural areas. The reason being they knew exactly where the wealth is…and developed the basic infrastructure.

It's now high time we leave the towns and go back to the rural areas not to only bury the dead and come back…but to develop basic *infrastructures like good roads, solar power and boreholes (a borehole is not only a bush pump, please😆)

Let's stop keeping cattle like we have been doing for the last 100 years but form cooperatives and revive CSC. In other words, it's now time to shift from subsistence farming to commercial farming.

Farming should never be seen as a passive activity but a billion-dollar business. No more waiting for rainwater for farming but let's continue to build those dams for irrigation.

We can't import maize from other countries while we have about 60% of youths who are roaming the streets in towns doing nothing.

Let's go back to our roots and pick up where our grandfathers left. Improve the rural land until we reach a time when only the rich will afford to live in rural areas.

You can see the latest tenders in Zimbabwe here

You can see the latest international undergraduate scholarships for Zimbabweans here

Business Opportunities in rural areas
1. Piggery
2. Dairy
3. Forestry
4. Cotton
5. And others

Pigery in rural areas — Small scale Piggery farming in rural areas

Rural areas are the new gold mines, let's start our billion-dollar projects there…!

Zimbabwe belongs to Zimbabweans and only Zimbabweans can improve it!

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think you can invest in the rural areas? Have you invested there before?

Share your thoughts in the comments below:

P.S This is a guest post from the founder of Zimbabwe Business Ideas and Networking (ZBIN). You can visit their website at www.zbinworld.com you can also join the Facebook group here.

You can also guest post by emailing us at editorial@zimtrending.co.zw