PROGRAMME PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (PPA)

ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT AND MARKET STIMULATION

The aim of this PPA programme is to strengthen the entrepreneurial skills of 315 members of the Matshetshe Processing Centre (MPC) through enhanced production in the 21 irrigated gardens and dryland production by encouraging farmers to produce sunflower for cooking oil and groundnuts for peanut butter. This is to make sure that the MPC will remain sustainable and become a viable business entity for the Matshetshe community of Gwanda district and benefit other wards and districts. 

Left: Community garden farmer bringing his tomatoes to the Centrefor value addition.Right: One of the women who works at the Processing Centre with a tin of baked buns

 

The Matshetshe Food Processing and Value Addition Centre (MPC) is a community initiative that was established with the assistance of Dabane Trust in 2009.  The MPC came about as a result  of the community's need to process and add value to food produce from dry land farming and irrigated community gardens.  It was established due to a lack of viable markets and value chains that reduced the productivity and family income from the crop and vegetable produce from the 21 community gardens and dry land plots. Thus the MPC was established to provide food processing and value addition facilities and market linkages.  

The PPA  programme also mainstreams gender and HIV/ AIDS. Awareness workshops on gender related  issues  are conducted so as to educate MPC members on topics such as empowerment, equity, access and ownership.  The programme team also holds workshops on HIV/ AIDS where MPC members are enlightened on how to make the Centre viable and sustainable in the era of the HIV/ AIDS  pandemic.

Some of the MPC  members during a capacity building workshop on enetrepreneurship

The programme implementation strategy is centred on Community Based Approaches that emphasise that community members are responsible for the development, maintenance, management and sustainable use of the local resources and infrastructure available to them.

Part of the MPC smemebrs that participated in the gender workshop