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Sithandazile Moyo Business Reporter
PREPARATIONS for the Matabeleland South Livestock Symposium are on course with organisers inviting prospective speakers at the event to submit abstracts of their speeches.Matabeleland South provincial chief livestock specialist Simangaliphi Ngwabi said preparations for the event to be held in Gwanda were underway and they have set the deadline for submitting the abstracts.
The four day symposium will be held from March 24 to 27 under the theme: “Sustainable livestock production to ensure food and protein security in line with the changing world climate.”
“The deadline for abstracts will be January 31, 2014. A selection committee will review and select papers that are relevant to the theme and those that qualify will be notified on or before February 14,” said Ngwabi.
She said registration to participate at the symposium has started and encouraged organisations and individuals interested in participating to register before February 28 to avoid attracting late registration fees.
Ngwabi said they were expecting more than 100 delegates at the event.
“We are expecting over a 100 delegates to attend and I am pleased to say that the response from people has been overwhelming because some have been calling asking for registration forms and considering the number of enquiries, to us that shows a good response,” she said.
The symposium is aimed at addressing challenges faced by livestock farmers to ensure growth in the sector.
“There is a need for serious interventions to try and address challenges facing the sector to ensure growth since livestock is the back bone of the agricultural sector in the dry and semi-arid regions of Zimbabwe,” said Ngwabi.
She said the livestock sector was under serious threat from different factors that include the adverse effects of climate change and livestock diseases.
“Livestock resources are under serious threat from a number of factors chief among them the impact of climate change and variability manifesting in the form of drought, poor distribution of rainfall, floods, extreme temperatures and foreign livestock diseases,” she said.
The symposium is targeting all players in the livestock sector such as the farming communities, institutions, farmer organisations and universities.
In the 2014 national budget, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the national herd has not improved significantly since the 1980s due to a number of factors that include inadequate research, erratic funding, coupled with persistent outbreaks of diseases.
He said government supports the rebuilding of the national herd included the establishment of livestock breeding centres, strengthening research and extension services, conservation of livestock genetic resources and generation and dissemination of information.
The on-going livestock development programme remains a priority targeting to raise the beef and dairy herd from the current 5,4 million and 27,000 to six million and 35,000 respectively by 2015.
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