Vusumuzi Dube
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
THE Government has commended the setting up of anchor animal health management centres around the country, a development that will increase livestock productivity and improve service delivery for farmers.
The 26 centres around the country that were developed under the Transforming Zimbabwe’s Animal Health and Food Safety Systems for the Future (SAFE) project will also bring livestock products and services closer to the farmers in an affordable way.
Speaking at the official handover of the Manama Anchor Animal Health Management Centre and the launch of the Animal Disease Surveillance Plan in Manama, Gwanda District of Matabeleland South province on Wednesday, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development Deputy Minister Davis Marapira said the development was an exceptional milestone.
“Livestock production plays an important role in the social, cultural and economic environment of Zimbabwe. Zeroing into livestock, the country has over 5.4 million beef cattle herd, 53 250 dairy animals and over 4.8 million goats among other livestock species. This translates to over US$2 billion contribution to the country’s economy hence this sector is indeed a Vision 2030 accelerator,” he said.
“This event is a unique milestone by the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) as they collaborated with the European Union and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to implement the SAFE project.
He said the SAFE project working closely with the Government of Zimbabwe with the funding from the European Union dovetails well to contribute to the achievement of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) targets.
Deputy Minister Marapira said the project has been contributing to enhancing animal production and productivity through interventions such as support to production of tick-borne disease vaccines, support to formulation of strategies for livestock, capacitation and ISO accreditation of government laboratories and training of extension staff on SOPs among other things.
“The involvement of the private sector players at the animal health management centres is also applauded as it speaks to strengthening the use of public-private partnerships under the NDS1 for financing of the livestock sector,” he added.
EU Ambassador to Zimbabwe Jobst von Kirchmann said the 26 centres around the country serves 73 000 rural livestock owners, while the SAFE project was part of the larger Zimbabwe Agricultural Growth Programme (ZAGP) where they have injected more than 40 million Euros.
He said ZAGP was also under the Team Europe Intiative for Greener and Climate Smart Agriculture, which for the next coming years they will support agriculture in Zimbabwe with funding of over 200 million Euros.
FAO Sub Region Coordinator for Southern Africa and Representative for Zimbabwe, Dr Patrice Talla said improvement in animal production and productivity could be achieved through disease and parasite control among others which were to be rendered at the centres.
He said the SAFE project was designed to address challenges such as animal health for impoved livestock productivity.
Minister of State for Matabeleland South Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Dr Evelyn Ndlovu said the launch comes at a time when the country has declared war against the January Disease, which has killed over 500 000 cattle in the past 5 years.
She said the project was critical in the development of the livestock sector in the Province which falls mostly in region 4 and 5.
Bongani Ndlovu