Chronicle Editor
Zimbabwe has potential to earn more than US$140 million annually from exporting cattle semen following the recent launch of a production facility in Chinhoyi. The state-of the-art facility, built by the Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT), has an integrated system that produces and stores at least seven million semen straws per year.
The Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Professor Amon Murwira said the country requires 1,5 million semen straws for artificial insemination a year, leaving the remainder for export. He said CUT was therefore already working on modalities to export the excess semen.
The CUT initiative is a response to the challenge of shortage of bulls at a time Government is working on restocking following a sharp decline of the national herd as a result of drought years since 2000.
Zimbabwe has an estimated 5,58 million cattle of which 45 percent are males. The country used to spend huge sums of money to import semen which is now produced by CUT. “We successfully launched the semen production facility on March 22 and it is being run by CUT innovation hub,” said Prof Murwira.
He said the facility has the capacity to produce and store seven million semen straws a year. One of the project coordinators, Dr Calvin Gomo, said the university was now looking at building an industrial hub that will see the establishment of cattle-related industries.
The Government has since released $3 million to kick-start the projects. “We are looking at expanding the project to include animal and vaccine production,” said Dr Gomo.
It is pleasing to note that institutions of higher learning such as CUT, National University of Science and Technology (Nust) and Midlands State University (MSU) have responded to calls by President Mnangagwa for universities to produce graduates that are relevant to the country’s immediate economic developmental challenges.
Cde Mnangagwa said the institutions should recognise the agricultural sector and agro-based value chain industries as an integral part of the economy like what CUT has done. The production of semen is obviously a big game changer in the livestock production while at the same time contributing significantly to the country’s foreign currency earnings.
Universities are taking their rightful place as leaders of innovation and industrialisation as evidenced by the establishment of innovation and industrial parks at the institutions. The industrial parks and innovation hubs facilitate collaboration between students, academics and industry and that is as it should be if the country is to realise its vision 2030 of creating an upper middle income economy.
President Mnangagwa has said the pursuit for industrialisation and economic growth demands tertiary institutions that think creatively about the manufacturing sector, value addition and beneficiation, import substitutions, export promotion and development of small to medium enterprises.
Online Reporter