mbulelo smpofu
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
IN a significant move poised to transform the country’s agricultural landscape, the Government is set to launch the new Zimbabwe Livestock Growth Programme (ZLGP), which aims to establish a US$1,9 billion livestock economy by 2025.
This initiative is driven by the need to prevent the devastating impacts on the livestock sector caused by the El Niño-induced drought.
The ZLGP is designed to foster the development of an inclusive, efficient, and resilient livestock sector, which is vital for economic growth. This development follows the alarming loss of more than 50 000 cattle due to water and food shortages triggered by last season’s drought.
Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development Permanent Secretary Professor Obert Jiri said there was a need for innovative and sustainable practices in enhancing the livestock sector.
“In line with the Livestock Growth and Recovery Plan, various projects were implemented under the Zimbabwe Agricultural Growth Programme (ZAGP) that was funded by the European Union (EU) which came to an end 2023 and was rounded up in early 2024.
“To move forward we saw it crucial to develop another programme that will move this forward. It is called the ZLGP which will focus more on livestock health, genetics, production, feeding and sale,” he said.
He said the new programme will focus on livestock genetics which is the inbreeding of our various types of livestock particularly in the smallholder farming sector where 80 percent of livestock are.
Prof Jiri said genetics of improving the national herd was a key thrust, with artificial insemination efforts and other embryo transfer methods to be capitalised to improve livestock herd and the size.
“This should positively contribute to the quality of our meat and the amount of our milk among other things. We also want to focus more on feeding and the nutrition aspect where we can delink the feed production of our livestock from the weather so that at the end of the day when there is a drought our livestock also do not become impacted,” he said.
“We must always have enough feed for our livestock whether it’s a drought year or not. We are also looking at marketing issues where we are focusing on how can our farmers get value from their livestock.”
The Permanent Secretary said after ZAGP they embarked on the Ward Drought Mitigation Centres, which originally focused on ensuring that livestock do not die but have further also become centres of marketing for the livestock.
He said in the past there used to be 243 livestock sales centres and they want them resuscitated through these Ward Drought Mitigation Centres.
“Livestock will then be sold at these centres in a more professional and business-oriented way So that our farmers around the country get value for their livestock.
“These will also look at diseases aspect, how we can reduce the January disease, foot and mouth, and other diseases that affect livestock. The programme should spur our livestock sector to greater heights,” he said.
The proposed new livestock programme will prioritise six value-chains that are beef, dairy, fisheries, goats, piggery and poultry.
These have the potential to promote broad-based economic growth and redistribution, ensuring that no one and no place is left behind.
Siphakeme .Mnindwa
