LACK in our country can be attributed to sabotage, to those working towards psyching people to revolt.
The continual increase of prices of goods in many instances is not justified.
This is done with the intention of causing mayhem in the country and ultimately, regime change but it does not have to go their way.
The answer is within ourselves.
People have the capacity to look after themselves, our destiny is in our hands, to shape and carry it.
I met a woman (Vimbai) recently in Kwekwe from Rutendo suburb, who has started multiple projects to augment what they make from their small farm outside Kwekwe and her husband’s teaching salary.
She was saying at the beginning of this year, she had three goats and by August, they had multiplied to eleven.
She began the year with five hens (roadrunners) and now she has 60 chickens; as for rabbits, she has stopped counting.
This lady, unlike most of us, will not be found turning over browning chickens in the supermarket freezers to find one that will suit our shrinking pockets.
Her family consumes all the cocks and leaves the hens for propagation.
She is self-sufficient in maize.
In August she delivered eight tonnes to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
Even when she is short of cash, she does not feel the pinch like most people.
When people want maize from her she says, ‘they give me soap, sugar or cooking oil in exchange’.
The meat section of all supermarkets can close and she will not blink an eyelid.
There is no major capital input in her meat projects.
It means anyone can do it.
We do not need to be brought down to our knees by those who overprice goods wanting to force us to change our leadership.
If each district organised itself and prioritised production of basic needs, they would be self-sufficient.
Poultry is one of those targets that can be easily met, so is chevon, mutton, pork, rabbit meat even beef and dairy products.
People do not have to live the life of paupers, ever complaining about butchers that sell meat at exorbitant prices.
These are viable businesses that can thrive at the local level.
People can serve themselves at the local level and live comfortable lives.
From the district to the province and to the national level, targets can be set, starting with self-sufficiency at the family level, it can cascade to the national level.
End of July, I was in Bulawayo where I learned about two young male students who while on attachment started their own agricultural project.
In July they were just beginning to harvest their crop of about 700 cabbages and the first order was to supply Choppies Supermarket with 50 cabbages.
They also had lettuce in this garden.
These two youngsters are poised to go far and were confident they could raise their fees for the remaining two semesters from their produce.
There were no beggars here, no-one was burning tyres because someone owed them jobs, they did not cross the border to become cheap labour for someone.
They ‘struck gold’ here in Zimbabwe.
Still in Bulawayo and still in July, I met this young enterprising woman, Portia Rangarirai who has started a detergent making project.
She makes washing powder, dishwashers and toilet cleaners and sells them at lower than supermarket prices.
But what struck me most about this young lady is that she had approached the Bulawayo provincial authority for schools to be given permission to train youngsters in the making of these products.
Whatever would be produced in each training workshop would be donated to the school.
The children would pay a token fee for the materials and the training.
Here is an entrepreneur interested in empowering others.
What stops us from being self-sufficient?
Do we have to rely on UNI-LEVER and other companies based in South Africa for our soaps and detergents.
Why do we need overpriced South African goods?
There also are herbalists who can tell you which plants can be used to make washing powder, dishwashers and bathing lotions. They are right here in Zimbabwe and the plants are so common, some of them can be found almost anywhere in Zimbabwe.
Each year we churn out bio-technology students, but how come we still are faced with problems in the provision of such basic necessities?
Bio-technology should move out of the university laboratory, into the factory.
It took the Soviets only 40 years from the time they liberated themselves from the fascists in 1917 and they were ready to launch a rocket into space.
It’s almost 40 years since our independence and our bio-technology is still behind bars.
We can make it.
Why do we insist on being at the mercy of others?