adminThe expo is meant for farmers and other stakeholders in the sector to showcase products in the poultry industry to boost production capacity.
“Preparations for the poultry expo to be held at Art Farm in Harare on 20 March are going on very well. There is a lot of excitement coming on board from the exhibitors,” said the Zimbabwe Poultry Association (ZPA) chairman Mr Solomon Zawe in a telephone interview yesterday.
He said 300 exhibitors that included local poultry producers such as breeding companies as well as stockfeed manufacturers and the Veterinary Department would attend the business event.
The expo will run alongside training sessions organised under the theme, “Chicken Management” to impart skills to farmers in order to increase output.
“We will have various local speakers who will conduct lecturers to boost domestic production,” he said.
The speakers are expected to present papers on chicken rearing, efficiency of production and cost of stockfeed.
Last year, poultry producers increased the production of day-old chicks by 40 percent to 52 million.
The 40 percent rise in the number of day-old chicks was attributed to the increase in the number of farmers opting to raise chickens following a relative decline in production costs brought by the adoption of a multi-currency system in February 2009.
The association this year targets to produce 72 million day-old chicks as more people now favour local chickens compared to imports.
Zimbabwe has a combined hatching capacity of 76 million day-old chicks per year.
Mr Zawe said although chicken production in the country had significantly improved, ZPA would not be resuming poultry exports anytime soon until a further decline in production costs on the local market.
“We cannot think of exports now until a further decline in production costs in soya and maize meal prices,” he said.
Online Reporter