adminwhite farmers.
In an interview recently, Joice Mujuru Crocodile Irrigation Scheme secretary Mr William Tonoro said while there was satisfactory progress at the farm, they were facing challenges in finding lucrative markets for the reptiles, which are ready for sale.
The project was named after Vice President Joice Mujuru’s visit in 2010.
The three-year-old project has seen about 50 small-scale farmers keeping close to 400 reptiles at a farm originally run by a former commercial farmer.
The secretary said the crocodiles, which are at different stages of maturity and divided in three classes, do not have a ready market and have to rely on promises, most of which have not materialised.
“We are facing a big challenge of sourcing markets that we appeal to the powers that be to find where we can sell our crocodile produce.
“We have approached a good number of potential buyers of crocodile tails but no one has come forward to make serious orders, as yet,” said Mr Tonoro.
“We have 192 crocodiles that have reached maturity stage and are ready for sale but since there is serious scarcity of markets in the province we are unable to sell them. We have managed to source funding from United Nations Development Programme through the Environmental Management Agency where we managed to purchase the crocodile eggs from National Parks and Wildlife Management Department,” he said.
“However, the scarcity of markets has a negative impact on our business due to production costs that we are incurring.
“We have to buy goat meat that we use in feeding the crocodiles and keeping many reptiles leads us to pump out more money yet we are realising very little in terms of revenue.”
A mature crocodile must have a tail measuring about 37cm in diameter and Mr Tonoro said most reptiles at the farm now had tails measuring 38cm.
Crocodile farming is one of the country’s biggest animal export earners, alongside ostrich rearing but most farmers are facing challenges of getting markets for crocodile meat.
Since the imposition of illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe, the European Union — which used to be the traditional market — has since stopped importing crocodile skins and meat from the country.
Online Reporter