By Anesu Chakanetsa

INDUSTRY has called on Government to implement a value chain approach that will accelerate efforts to turn around the economy currently hamstrung by a myriad of challenges.
A value chain approach seeks to increase the value of local products through beneficiation.
Speaking during the launch of value chain mapping, Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president Busisa Moyo said, value chains in the country had broken down and needed government intervention.
He said value chain mapping was critical to resuscitation of industry.
After more than a decade of battering by embargoes imposed by the European Union (EU) and the US, local industry has been put in the intensive care unit where it continues to struggle to regain health.
“Some of our value chains are missing,” said Moyo.
“The government needs to implement a value chain approach.”
A value chain is a high level model of how businesses receive raw materials as input, add value to the materials through various processes and finally sell as finished goods to customers.
Some of the chains identified are: Asbestos-to-roofing-to-construction materials, diamond-jewellery-to-ornament, tobacco-to-cigarretes, maize-to-mealie meal and beverages.
Kenya and South Africa, two of the leading economies in Africa, are successful cases in the implementation of value chains mapping mainly driven by the private sector.
Kenya has relied much on agriculture while South Africa relies on minerals value chains.
Value chain mapping is in support of Government’s 10-Point Plan For Economic Growth initiated in August 2015 by President Robert Mugabe.
One tenet of the Ten-Point Plan focuses on advancing beneficiation and/or value-addition to the agricultural and mining resource endowment.
The 18 value chains launched by CZI are in mining and agriculture, which are the key sectors set to be the bedrock of economic recovery.
A maize-to-maize products value chain is a simple example where there is value change at every stage.
Steps from farming the maize to finished and value-added products are; mealie meal, samp, mealie rice, cornstacks, cornflakes and maputi.
Intermediary products include starch paste, maize grit, maize bran and ancillary products such as cornstacks and stockfeeds.
The CZI illustrates that from farmers, the maize goes to Grain Storage Industry where the key players are the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), Intergrain and Staywell.
After the storing process, the maize-milling companies, under the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) come into play and there is need to increase the value of maize at this stage.
The value is also added when millers sell their products to retail outlets and supermarkets
The Minister of Industry and Commerce, Mike Bimha, commended the introduction of the value chains mapping cluster approach pointing out that it supports Government’s industrialisation policy.
“This is a welcome development because it is an extension of what the government and CZI started,” said Bimha.
Bimha emphasised the need to build value chains within at regional level because Africa is a free trade area.
The minister denounced the selling of raw products to the West which has crippled the continent’s economy.
He pointed out that the private sector should be the key driver in industrialising the nation by formulating policy and also in facilitating intra-African trade.
With a wide range of natural resources and human capital, Zimbabwe has the potential to build strong value chains that will benefit everyone.
President Mugabe has always bemoaned the country’s loss of revenue through export of goods in their raw form, especially minerals. According to pundits, mining companies such as Zimplats should be compelled to build refineries.
Currently, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce is in partnership with other ministries like Agriculture and Mines and Mining Development to facilitate the growth of value chains in these key economic sectors.
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce has also worked with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) over value chains like cotton-to-clothing.