Online Reporter
Felistas Tavarera, Agriculture Correspondent
Climate-smart agriculture initiatives being implemented by the Government are expected to reduce the environmental footprint while promoting economic growth and development.
By adopting sustainable practices and promoting climate-smart agriculture, Zimbabwe can improve food security and reduce livestock emissions by seven percent by 2035.
Officiating at workshop in Mazowe on Thursday, Department of Livestock Research in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, deputy director Mr Andrew Chamisa said the targeted goal would be achieved through improved feeding and improved health in five percent and 10 percent of national herd respectively to promote sustainable agriculture and climate smart practices.
“In February, Zimbabwe produced its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) 3.0 country statement as part of updating its NDC, in line with the Paris Agreement, due for submission in 2025.
“In the country statement, Zimbabwe intends to reduce emissions from livestock by seven percent (2000 Gg CO2 eqv) by 2035, through improved feeding and improved health in five percent and 10 percent of the national herd, respectively,” he said
Mr Chamisa said there was a need for stakeholders in the livestock industry to come up with a detailed mitigation assessment of projects that contribute to the set targets.
He said it was against this background that a team of local and international experts was set to interrogate Zimbabwe’s livestock policy interventions related to climate mitigation to update the NDC.
Hence, this validation workshop has been organised to provide feedback on the processes, challenges and approaches used to conduct the livestock mitigation assessment.
“Livestock production contributes to environmental sustainability by changing human unusable energy into nutritious animal-sourced food.
“Therefore, livestock production not only contributes to the reduction in organic waste and pollution in the world, but also provides food and nutrition security.
“Many extensive livestock keepers experience low productivity, high variation in production and availability of feedstock, chronic food and nutrition insecurity and economic hardship, which is often compounded by climate variability and change, “he said.
Food and nutrition security needs and diminishing adaptive capacity compared with plant foods, animal-sourced foods provide dense and readily bioavailable sources of energy, protein, minerals, and fibre.
The Government has partnered with New Zealand to promote climate-smart livestock innovations, which are expected to curtail greenhouse gases and methane emissions.
This partnership will also provide support for research and innovation to foster the development of new technologies and tools and ultimately contribute to Zimbabwe’s sustainable development goals.
