By Davet Muzwidzwa

ZIMBABWEANS have become addicted to contraception that they have forgotten that they have a duty to replenish the dwindling population.
Our population is unsustainably small.
Zimbabweans say that they are not able to look after a large family from the income they earn.
Others argue that the Zimbabwean economy is too small to look after a larger population.
There is another lot who thinks it’s primitive and old fashioned to have many children.
Other Zimbabweans who do not know Zimbabwe that well argue that Zimbabwe has limited resources and birth control will help ease pressure on those limited resources.
All these reasons arise out of years of soft power attack.
We are made to take the view that every trendy way of life comes from the West.
Birth control is a huge industry in the West.
It is part of the soft power machinery of the West who would not like to compete for resources with indigenous populations.
The chart below shows that during the liberation struggle, the West was not able to unleash their birth control attacks in Zimbabwe.
Our annual population growth rate in 1980 stood at 4,2 percent.
In the post independence era, there was a proliferation of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who happen to be soft power implementers of the West.
They aggressively targeted population growth rate as one area they wanted to check to reduce competition from indigenous populations for abundant resources in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans were made to buy-in on policies that will haunt them for a long time. By year 2000, the population growth rate of Zimbabwe had dwindled to 0,26 percent due to aggravated natural causes as well as sustained birth control campaigns.
HIV and AIDS aggravated the decline of the population growth rate.
By 2008, the population of Zimbabwe was declining at the rate of -0,79 percent.
The ripple effects of such a phenomenon are catastrophic. School enrolment is going to decline.
The entire baby industry is going to decline or collapse altogether.
Baby food, clothing, medicine, care and many other industries related to babies are going to shrink as well.
Budgetary constraints and strained relations with the West loosened the attack on population growth.
Most NGOs were preoccupied with the regime change agenda that birth control was no longer a priority.
The population growth rate rapidly recovered to a point where in 2012, the population growth rate had surpassed the 1980 growth rate of 4,2 percent to 4,36 percent.
An increase in population leads to direct increases of the population density. An increase in population density will stimulate economic growth.
For an example, the population density of Harare Province is 2406,19 persons per sq kilometre.
With such a population, it is possible to have a school in every two sq kilometres.
The same population density will allow clinics within the walking distance of most people.
Such density will allow house delivery of services.
The opposite is a scenario of a sparsely populated rural area such as Matabeleland North where the population density in the province is 9,91 persons per sq kilometre.
There, a population over 30 sq kilometres will sustain a single school or a clinic. Even service centres will be located long distances apart.
The chart below clarifies the point that population density and economic growth are directly related.
Chad has a population density of 8,78 persons per sq km and 80 percent of its population are below the poverty datum line.
Chad is currently ranked the poorest of the 157 countries at number one. D.R. Congo has a density of 28,92 persons per sq km and is ranked 4 out of 157. Zimbabwe has 32,37 persons per sq km and is ranked nine out of 157 countries. It means that there are only nine countries poorer than Zimbabwe in the world. Germany, Vietnam and United Kingdom (UK) have population densities above 200 persons per sq km and have very little poverty as shown in the chart above. They are ranked number 120, 126 and 128 respectively.
The higher the population density, the higher the economic prospects for citizens.
This is based on the fact that the primary market for goods and services produced in an economy is its local citizens.
Zimbabwe has a small domestic market that most of its products are produced primarily for the export market.
Zimbabwe should grow her population to a level where a significant portion of her production is consumed locally.
Zimbabwe should follow the Nigerian population growth path, which in 1961 was 51,5 persons per sq km and rose to a density of 178,4 persons per sq km by 2011.
Nigeria was in 2014 ranked the largest economy on the African continent and 26th largest in the world with a new Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$453 966.81 billion compared with the 1961 GDP of US$13,34 billion.
Nigerian population in 1961 was 46 912 820 and rose to 162 470 700 by 2011. Zimbabwe should dumb birth control policies to stimulate domestic demand for its goods.
Women should be left alone to make choices.