Chronicle Editor
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
THE Value Chain Alliance for Livestock Upgrading and Empowerment (VALUE) project has said since the inception of direct meat marketing, a total of 4 453 goats from 1 193 farmers have been sold to 64 butcheries in Harare and Bulawayo urban markets generating over US$189 000.
The VALUE project is part of an EU-funded Zimbabwe Agricultural Growth Programme (ZAGP), a response to the challenges within the country’s livestock sector.
In an interview, VALUE project team leader, Mr Newton Chari said markets have emerged to consume about 50 to 60 percent of goat meat.
“VALUE is promoting more of direct meat marketing, which is influenced by how Harare and Bulawayo markets have emerged to consume about 50 to 60 percent of goat meat. We have also observed consignments stock supplied by the Goat Producers Business Associations (GPBAs) selling quickly and we are still working towards supplying more butcheries,” he said.
“A total of 4 453 goats from 1 193 farmers produced a total cold dress mass (CDM) of 56 tonnes which was sold to 64 butcheries in Harare and Bulawayo urban markets generating US$189 024.”
He said prior to the introduction of direct meat marketing, farmers had a very limited role in supplying goat meat directly to end-market consumers.
Brokering was mainly done by middlemen and private abattoirs and there was low-capacity utilisation of local goat abattoirs such as Mvutcha, Umguza and Bulawayo which were operating at 30 percent, 10 percent and 15 percent respectively.
“Local goat auctions and middlemen did not significantly improve income for farmers. In their individual capacities farmers were failing to meet quantity requirements for retailers and wholesalers which stood at a weekly demand of 4 180 kilogrammes (kg) for super grade, 5 525kg for choice and 9 797kg for standard goat meat totalling 19 502kg for the 528 profiled butcheries in Harare and Bulawayo.
“In terms of governance of the value chain, focusing on the shared value, the distribution was as follows, farmers 14 percent, abattoirs 14 percent, wholesalers 17 percent, with brokers/middlemen enjoying the greater share of 55 percent,” said Mr Chari.
He said in monetary terms that meant that for every US$1 generated, the farmers received a paltry US$0,14, abattoirs US$0,14, wholesalers US$0,17, with brokers/middlemen enjoying the lion’s share of the market earnings of US$0,55.
Mr Chari said to address such challenges the project introduced the direct meat marketing approach which in summary entailed that the GPBAs, farmer groupings are formed by the project in 12 districts.
The groupings would then employ a business secretariat, the Business Management Units (BMU) to drive the business of the associations while members of the associations focused more on production and political issues in the value chains.
“The GPBAs would mobilise farmers who were ready to take goats to the markets. This would be followed with aggregation and tagging of goats prior transportation to Harare and Bulawayo, which were identified as major consumer markets for at least 60 percent of all goats produced in Zimbabwe.”
He said butchers and retailers were buying goats from the farmers directly at wholesale price of between US$3 to US$4 per kg, for their retail which ranges from US$4,50 to US$12 depending on the location and markets.
Mr Chari said from preliminary assessments, farmers’ profit margins have increased to between 30 to 45 percent compared to the farm gate sales.
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