Zimbabwe: Bacossi Goods to Be Manufactured Locally - Gono
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The Herald (Harare)
18 July 2008
Posted to the web 18 July 2008
Harare
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the technical advisor in the National Basic Commodities Supply Enhancement Programme, will soon engage local producers, including small businesses, to undertake toll manufacturing of basic commodities, as the initiative gathers momentum.
Toll manufacturing is an arrangement where a customer provides a producer with raw materials to process on his behalf.
Presently, most of the products being distributed were imported, but RBZ Governor Dr Gideon Gono stressed this week that opportunities were abound for local companies to start producing and supplying warehouses specifically designated for the programme.
Imports were made with assistance from Russian/Ukrainian investors and a Namibia-based company in which a Zimbabwean, Dr Raymond Chamba, is a partner. Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed National Foods provided trucks and warehouses.
"We want to engage companies to produce for the State and become viable in the process. We will provide them with raw materials and they will then produce goods, which will be sent to warehouses countrywide for distribution.
"This (the basic goods distribution programme) is an opportunity for these companies and even for small businesses which we can also engage under the toll manufacturing arrangement," said Dr Gono.
He said it was unfortunate that funds previously disbursed to small to medium businesses to enhance their operations had not yielded the desired results as the SMEs failed to deliver. There was scope, however, in engaging this sector to ensure it played a significant role in the production of affordable goods for the people.
Questions have been asked on the sustainability of the programme given the huge demand for basic goods in both rural and urban areas, and taking into account that traditional producers had failed.
However, Dr Gono was quick to say that the short, medium and long-term strategies put in place under the initiative were foolproof.
"The idea is to see an increase in the local production of these goods which will then go to the people at affordable prices. If they do not want to produce, we will still import. It has been proved already that the goods can be imported and sold at affordable prices even after taking the worst case scenario on inflation and exchange rate projections," he said.
However, he was confident that local producers would desist from their various forms of indiscipline and see reason to partner with Government in the production of goods.
Dr Gono also explained that the People's Shops concept had temporarily been shelved in favour of direct distribution after cases of abuse by some of the shop owners had been unearthed. The concept be revisited in time.
The distribution of hampers has started with rural areas where 70 percent of Zimbabwe's population lives, with the programme set for introduction in urban areas soon.
"This is a pilot programme which we will perfect as we go along," Dr Gono said.
The Bacossi to the People Programme was also an initiative towards meeting the United Nations-set Millenium Development Goals, that include halving poverty by 2015.
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Households would also be given tomato, cabbage and onion seed to engage in market gardening as a strategy to empower communities.
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