Think globally and consume locally

Zimbabwe's economy, which is convalescing from a decade of western-induced turmoil, is not yet ready for a non-incentivised system. To expose it to external economic exigencies will be self defeating and devolutionary on the self sustaining approach to governance.

The indigenization and ZimASSET steered economy requires nurturing and embracing until the indigenous players gain capacity before engaging cushioning alternatives in the name of foreign investments for zones such as the retail sector.

It is of paramount importance to embrace government stunt to reserve the retail sector to the locals.

Roping in of foreigners will be coupled with bottle necking of operations which will eventually choke the new players out of the market. Big names such as Pick n Pay bring with them foreign products which are cheap but at the cost of our locally produced goods and life expectance of local businesses.

The companies offer tenders to large scale farmers whom they task with supplying an agricultural product throughout the year. Our agriculture is largely constituted by small scale farmers; hence the invitation of such names is shooting self in the foot.

The situation however, gives precedence to the middle men who collects and then supply to these big markets. The involvement of middle man is not sufficed to go by, given the way it is ripping off tobacco farmers. They tend to benefit more than the producer and the end user will ultimately suffer as the costs are incurred on them.

The pricing of these big players is appealing but costly in the long run if we are to consider the calibre of their products. They are genetically modified organs which were developed in laboratories under chemical catalysers. The GMOs are a risk to human health and environment in the long run. Kenya has also taken similar stunt to that of Zimbabwe by banning the importation of GMOs.

Retailing created employment opportunities which saw government opening up boutiques for the locals. Its opening up to the foreigners will basically plunge further the general population into poverty.

 Consequently local circulation of money is hampered as the foreign based retailers restock from their home countries. Thus the issue of reliance on these so called big players comes with a greater price at the end of the day.

Perceptions over the imports, as of better quality remain a cause for concern with people opting for goods from USA, UK. To those who have been duped by these cheap products matrix can testify that one should never lose a lesson from buying shoes that tears off within two weeks of purchase. By consuming locally one will be promoting the indigenous market and creating employment.

Compatibility of systems in running the economy should not be taken for granted. In as much as one ponders for rapid development and readily available food stuffs, you can never overlook the pros and cons of a certain stunt. When we decide to indigenize and empower, it would be catastrophic to factor in unsystematically external elements in the economy.

The Ministry of Agriculture Mechanization and relevant authorities face a task of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of local produce then decide on imports from an informed basis.