UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE

JERIPHANOS MUSIKWI

REG NO R156846D

PROGRAMME HEC 2

COURSE ECON 217

LECTURER Dr MUMVUMA

ASSIGNMENT 1

QUESTION:
2 a) making special reference to any one of the ten provinces in zimbabwe, explain the main
causes of poverty in this province.
b) clearly what should be done and by who to overcome poverty in this province.
a)
Poverty is general scarcity or the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material
possessions or money. It is a multifaceted concept, which includes social, economic,
and political elements that is (human and income) poverty. Absolute poverty or
destitution refers to the lack of means necessary to meet basic needs such as food,
clothing and shelter. Absolute poverty is meant to be about the same independent of
location. Relative poverty occurs when people in a country do not enjoy a certain
minimum level of living standards as compared to the rest of the population and so
would vary from country to country, sometimes within the same country. World wide if a
person lives below $1.25 per day is considered to be poor and in Zimbabwe, the total
consumption poverty line (TCPL) for one person stood at $96.00 in April 2016.

Main cause of poverty in masvingo province zimbabwe

Main causes of poverty in masvingo province in zimbabwe are climatic factors,

unemployment, land redistribution, brain draining and rapid population growth.

Climatic factors
According to investigations by ZimEye.com, the el nino that hits zimbabwe severely in
Masvingo cause a severe drought in the area and death of hundreds of donkeys and
cattle. Livestock are the maJor assets of rural dwellers so the fatality of these assets will
need the set in of poverty to these Masvingo residents.

Massive deaths of livestock in Chiredzi, Chikombedzi, Boli and Mhlanguleni areas leave
villagers facing looming starvation. Moreso, according to Agritex officials at BenJamin
Burombo Building in Masvingo Chiredzi, Chivi and Zimuto areas are the worst affected
by the drought with villagers already surviving on one meal a day and this is a signal of
poverty caused by a climate change.

Unemployment
Lack of a regular income leads to the inability to be able to maintain the basic needs,
including fundamental provisions such as eating healthy foods, buying into health care
and providing adequate heating for the home. While there are many types of poverty,
the reasons behind poverty are always a lack of money. It is possible to live in poverty
even with employment.

A low paid worker may suffer much the same hardships.One of South Africa's major
cause and effect of poverty is unemployment. Unemployment causes families to live in
unsanitary conditions because a lack of financial means to improve living conditions. If
the parents are unemployed, this can also affect how the child is brought up and what
kind of education they receive. Unemployment Rate in Zimbabwe increased to 11.30
percent in 2014 from 10.70 percent in 2011. Unemployment Rate in Zimbabwe
averaged 7.76 percent from 1982 until 2014, reaching an all time high of 11.30
percent in 2014 and a record low of 4.20 percent in 2004. This manifested by the
severe poverty hitting the economy leaving university graduates being vendors
according to The standard (09/02/14).

Rapid population growth

Where rapid population growth far outpaces economic development, countries

will have a difficult time investing in the human capital needed to secure the
wellbeing of its people and to stimulate further economic growth. This issue is
especially acute for the least developed countries, many of which are facing a
doubling, or even a tripling of their populations by 2050. The rapid increase in
population in Masvingo lead to increased pressure on scarce resources such as
land which will lead to poverty as the security will be less.

Brain draining

The majority of migration is from developing to developed countries. This is of growing

concern worldwide because of its impact on the health systems in developing countries.
These countries have invested in the education and training of young health
professionals. This translates into a loss of considerable resources when these people
migrate, with the direct benefit accruing to the recipient states who have not forked out
the cost of educating them. This lead to continuing stagnation of the economy since
professionals will boost other economies hence poverty will struck the country.

The intellectuals of any country are some of the most expensive resources because of
their training in terms of material cost and time, and most importantly, because of lost
opportunity example students in zimbabwe who studied with government grants.
In 2000 almost 175 million people, or 2.9% of the worlds population, were living outside
their country of birth for more than a year.

This form of migration has in the past involved many health professionals: nurses and
physicians. Example United States, President Barack Obama appointed James
Manyika to his Global Development Council instead for him appointed by president
Robert Mugabe to develop the economy. Manyika is currently the director of the
McKinsey Global Institute and a senior partner at McKinsey & Company. Prior to joining
McKinsey, he studied at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and later on
taught in the engineering faculty at the same institution.

Lack of farming skills and advanced farming technology

Poor farming practices in Masvingo cause them to have less yields and also lack of
advanced technology. Green revolution should be put into play in Masvingo for them to
have a bumper harvest that will provide food for the entire season without need for any
support but sustaining with their produce. This poor yield cause them to be poor since
the government is in capacity to provide them adequately.

To sum up, poverty can be caused by many variables be economic, social, political as
well as economic factors. Lack of economic growth beinng the major determinant of
poverty in Masvingo.

b)
Create employment

The best pathway out of poverty is a well-paying job. To get back to prerecession
employment levels, we must create 2 million new jobs as viewed by president Robert
Mugabe(2014). To kick-start job growth, the Zimbabwean government should invest in
job-creation strategies such as rebuilding our infrastructure; developing renewable
energy sources; renovating abandoned housing; and making other common-sense
investments that create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods, and boost our national economy.
We should also build on proven models of subsidized employment to help the long-term
unemployed and other disadvantaged workers re-enter the labor force.

If policies can be revised and make them more attractive to the investors so as to boost
their confidence and invest in Masvingo (Zimbabwe) and create employment.Economic
growth has the indirect potential to alleviate poverty, as a result of a simultaneous
increases in employment opportunities and labour productivity. A study by researchers
at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) of 24 countries that experienced growth
found that in 18 cases, poverty was alleviated.

Capital, infrastructure and technology

Long run economic growth per person is achieved through increases in capital (factors
that increase productivity), both human and physical, and technology. Improving human
capital, in the form of health, is needed for economic growth. Nations do not necessarily
need wealth to gain health. Knowledge on the cost effectiveness of healthcare
interventions can be elusive but educational measures to disseminate what works are
available, such as the disease control priorities project.Human capital, in the form of
education, is an even more important determinant of economic growth than physical
capital example STEM that was introduced in 2016 to encourage innovation.

UN economists argue that good infrastructure, such as roads and information networks,
helps market reforms to work. China claims it is investing in railways, roads, ports and
rural telephones in African countries as part of its formula for economic development. It
was the technology of the steam engine that originally began the dramatic decreases in
poverty levels.

With necessary information and technology, remote farmers can produce specific crops
to sell to the buyers that brings the best price.Such technology also helps bring
economic freedom by making financial services accessible to the poor. The government
of Zimbabwe should continue to support the STEM theme introduced by the ministry of
higher and tertiary education.

Reversing brain drain

The loss of basic needs emigrating from impoverished countries has a damaging effect.
The government of Zimbabwe should create favourable environments and political
stability as well as well paid jobs to attract its human capital to tarry in the home country
and develop hence reduction of poverty.

Economic reforms

changes in the industrial policy and better utilization of available resources are expected
to reduce the problem of unemployment and poverty that results from it. The economic
reform measures need to have major impacts on the employment generating potential
of the economy. The governmental bodies are also required to initiate long term
measures for poverty alleviation. Generation of employment opportunities and equality
in income distribution are the two key factors that are of utmost importance to deal with
the dual problem of unemployment and poverty.

Seeking donations
Donations from developed countries can help to wash away poverty in zimbabwe strictly
in Masvingo such as christian care and the USAID from the European countries mainly.
The government of Zimbabwe should diligently seek for the donations from rich
countries for its citizens since for the economy to reach its level of full employment
where it can employ all the unemployed will take a huge lag. The government of
zimbabwe should declare itself that they are no longer in capacity to support their
residents which struck by the natural disaster and they should cry to the UNITED
NATIONS for help.

Helping farmers

Raising farm incomes is described as the core of the antipoverty effort as three quarters
of the poor today in Zimbabwe are farmers. Estimates show that growth in the
agricultural productivity of small farmers is, on average, at least twice as effective in
benefiting the poorest half of a countrys population as growth generated in
nonagricultural sectors example teaching service industry. The move to help farmers is
now start to be in action in zimbabwe through the newly introduced support from
government called command agriculture. Though in Masvingo the programme is not yet
granted by the government, the government should ought to go forward and introduce
this support.
 References

Narayan, Deepa and Nicholas Stern. 2002. Empowerment and Poverty Reduction:
A Sourcebook, pp. 1272. Washington DC: World Bank.

Smeeding, T (2005). "Public policy, economic inequality, and poverty: The United
States in comparative perspective". Social Science Quarterly. 86: 955983

World Bank and International Monetary Fund. 2001. Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries, Progress Report. Retrieved from http://worldbank.org.

Sabates, Ricardo (2008). The impact of life long learning on poverty reduction

www.globalissues.org. Retrieved 04/11/15

www.zimeye.net/massive livestock deaths as drought hits Masvingo

ZIMSTAT (2011) Poverty Analysis: Poverty Datumlines may 2011.zimbabwe,Harare