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Bianca Mlilo, Business Reporter
LOCAL and foreign investors have shown interest in investing in crocodile farming in Binga, an official has said.
Joshua Muzamba, a councillor from the Binga Rural District Council, revealed this during a media tour held in the district by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) recently.
“We’re having interest from investors who want to do crocodile farming in our district especially in Binga town,” he said. “They’ve cited the presence of a good road infrastructure from the town to other markets like Harare and Bulawayo and especially for exports. They’ve also cited good temperatures although to us high temperatures are a bit uncomfortable.”
Muzamba said the local authority has received interest from investors from as far as South Africa.
It is believed that high temperatures enable crocodiles to grow faster hence investors would be able to realise their returns faster.
Muzamba said crocodile farming was a lucrative venture with a potential to create more job opportunities in line with the government’s blue-print, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio- Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset).
“There’s a need to develop projects suited for particular areas that will benefit that population in relation to developments as a district,” he said.
Muzamba said some kapenta fishers in the district had decided to migrate to crocodile farming because the crocodile industry has a promising future.
Turning to value addition and beneficiation under Zim-Asset, Muzamba said negotiations were still underway to set up processing facilities in Binga.
“We’re holding discussions with our would-be investors and those who are actually located here. For those farms already in Binga, slaughtering and packaging is already being done on site but we’d benefit if the processing of hides was done in the district,” he said.
Crocodile farming is a niche industry in which the reptiles are bred, raised, and ultimately killed to supply skins for luxury items like handbags, shoes and watch bands.
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