adminTHE Cold Storage Company has identified a market to supply about 1 600 dressed goats a week to the United Arab Emirates and Asian countries, an official has said.
In an interview, CSC director marketing Mr Isaiah Machingura said the market, if explored, was likely to boost goat farming in the country.
“We have identified a market which can take a minimum of 1 600 goats per week. The markets are in Dubai, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia,” said Mr Machingura.
He said Ethiopia was the biggest African supplier of goat meat to the world market.
The CSC official said the challenge that they had was whether the farmers had the capacity to supply them with the required quantities.
“What we don’t know is, do we really have the farmers who can have big quantities to supply us with the right quantities? We have actually sent out the word to all the farmers who are in small stock to tell us whether they have those goats to supply those markets,” said Mr Machingura.
In 2010, the cash-strapped CSC was forced to abandon an ambitious project to supply goat meat to Angola as farmers expressed dissatisfaction in supplying small stock on credit to the company.
CSC intended to collect the goats from farmers and slaughter them before selling the meat to Angola and paying the farmers later, an arrangement that was turned down by farmers.
The company used to export beef, sheep and goats to a number of countries but was forced to stop due to viability challenges.
CSC used to play a leading role in the processing and marketing of Zimbabwe’s beef since its inception in 1937.
However, it has fallen on hard times since 2000 owing to a myriad of challenges chief among them the under-utilisation of capacity (both factories and ranches), failure to raise adequate working capital (under-capitalisation), cattle disease outbreaks, decline in commercial herd, huge foreign debt, high staff turnover and an aged transport fleet.
The company is also eyeing the lucrative Angola beef market to revive its waning fortunes.
In an interview, Matabeleland Livestock Investment Initiative secretary, Mr Sifiso Sibanda said farmers from Matabeleland had the capacity to supply the required goats.
“We do have the capacity to supply the goats. The best goats come from Gwanda South and Beitbridge. Matabeleland North has also the best breeding area for goats,” said Mr Sibanda.
He, however, had reservations on whether farmers were going to get value for their delivered goats.
“The challenge is that we have people who are ripping off farmers by not giving them a proper value for their stock. We have abattoirs that are getting about 70 percent profit from animals while the farmers are getting a paltry 30 percent,” he said.
“A good example is where some people from Harare are going to Beitbridge to buy goats at $20 and resell them at Mbudzi Bus Terminus at between $70 and $80. You can see that the farmers are being ripped off,” said Mr Sibanda.
He said the livestock was dwindling in the country because farmers were failing to restock after selling them.
“Farmers should get more money for their delivered stock so that they will be able to breed more,” he said.
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derick.khumalo