eBusiness Weekly
Bulawayo Bureau
SMALL holder farmers are now dominating the broiler and egg supply chain in the market as more players are joining the industry and realise its gains under the Inclusive Poultry Value Chain (IPVC) drive.
The increase in domestic poultry production buttresses the Government Livestock Recovery and Growth Plan, which is part of the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy launched last year that seeks to achieve a US$8,2 billion agriculture economy by 2025.
The IPVC project is being supported by the European Union (EU)-funded Zimbabwe Agricultural Growth Programme (ZAGP), which is a partnership between the Government and the EU.
The project is meant to tackle Zimbabwe’s livestock challenges through financial support from the EU amounting to 40 million euros, with the IPVC getting six million euros.
If statistics from the Zimbabwe Poultry Association are anything to go by, the poultry market has been greatly transformed to involve more small-holder farmers on the main production side.
Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Vangelis Peter Haritatos, who officially launched the Mbizo IPVC Center in Kwekwe recently, said the Government was impressed by small-holder farmers, especially women.
“The IPVC programme is also benefiting the marginalized small-holder farmers of which most of the beneficiaries are women. Statistics from the Zimbabwe Poultry Association indicate that two thirds of all broiler meat is produced by small and medium scale farmers,” said the Deputy Minister.
“The similar trend is also noted in egg production where independent small to medium producers contribute 60 percent of production whilst they cater for 100 percent free range chickens in the market.
“Notably, women constitute the bulk of the poultry produce, with figures indicating that over 60 percent of the producers in poultry are women.”
As the country joins the rest of the world in commemorating the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, Haritatos said it was critical to invest more towards capacitating small-holder poultry producers and empower women for improved economic resilience.
He said President Mnangagwa’s transformational vision of achieving a prosperous and empowered upper middle-income society by 2030, prioritises inclusive development that ensures no one is left behind.
“The IPVC project, among other goals, seeks to improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of small and medium producers in the poultry value chain, of which enhancing market access is one of the key strategies to achieve these set goals,” said Haritatos.
IPVC team leader, Mr Joseph Matiza, said the project has since assisted over 5 000 small scale to medium poultry farmers in the last 13 months through access to affordable chicks and feed to the tune of US$1,3 million. He said he poultry project had six targets.
“The IPVC is meant to establish functional poultry business centers like the one we are witnessing today, reduce poultry production costs, improve poultry productivity, value addition business development services, awakening poultry value chains and promoting a green technology amongst others,” said Mr Matiza.
The Kwekwe Poultry Centre is situated on a 2300sqm piece of land awarded by Kwekwe City Council and promotes organized markets for the agricultural produce, which are key in driving growth in the agricultural value chain.
Besides the open market shed and the butchery services, the project is helping producers to establish direct formal market linkages between producers and bulk off takers dressed poultry products such as schools and colleges.
