Integral musha

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Musha means homestead in Shoma language and nyumba in Swahili

‘Integral musha/nyumba is a homestead which is not just a home for people to live and be buried at, but a new type of business entity which incorporates community, culture, technology (including internet connection) and enterprise. This is different from the conventional western corporate firm which mainly involves technology and enterprise, bereft of community and culture. An integral musha promotes household trade to enhance family livelihoods and helps in creating an active and vibrant village and regional economy (Taranhike, 2021)’.

Characteristics of an integrated musha/nyumba are:

  • It maintains the communal way of life – doesn’t disrupt the African cultural social fabric because people do not move out of their community in search of employment
  • Promotes family unity and community cohesion – people earn a living while they are in their family homestead setting which is grounded in nature
  • People live in harmony with nature – harvesting sunshine to produce solar energy, and harvesting both rainwater and underground water in order to ensure that farming is carried out throughout the whole year using drip irrigation, keeping bees for honey and pollination, soil conservation,
  • Growing traditional crops that are drought resistant
  • Growing high value crops such as garlic, ginger, turmeric, etc, thereby even enabling the rural folk to earn foreign currency as these crops can be exported
  • Rural tourism – draws on African values of hospitality and respect
  • Reversing colonisation and urbanisation – making African rural communities proud of who they are, their culture and their history.
  • Combines indigenous and exogenous knowledges
  • Processing and value addition – instead of selling raw produce

‘As a whole, the Integral Kumusha provides a holistic and integrated approach in rural development and enhancing livelihoods, starting with the traditional homestead within the community, living in harmony with nature while promoting our culture and improving knowledge co-creation through science and technology and using the Integral Kumusha as an enterprise to generate income for the home, the community and the nation at large’, (Taranhike, 2021).

Taranhike, D. S. (2021). Integral Kumusha: A Case of Buhera – Towards Self-Sufficiency in Zimbabwe via Nhakanomics. PhD Thesis

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