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Edgar Vhera Agriculture Specialist Writer
GOVERNMENT and stakeholders in the poultry industry are set to launch national standards on free range poultry production and marketing to improve efficiency.
The standards which will be launched next week, will also promote sustainable intensive production under the Presidential Poultry Scheme (PPS).
This was said by Zimbabwe Free Range Poultry Association (ZFRPA) secretary general Mrs Beauty Jiji yesterday while giving update on the coming event.
“The ZFRPA in partnership with Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) and Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development (MLAFWRD) have developed the national standard for free range poultry production.
“The ZWS 1051: 2022 Code of Practice for Good Agricultural Practice for free range poultry production will be launched on June 27,” said Mrs Jiji.
This approved national standard to be launched at the Harare Exhibition Park will be attended by local, regional and international stakeholders.
Mrs Jiji said this was the first key standard to guide farmers and value chain actors in the sustainable production and marketing of free-range poultry in Zimbabwe.
“The standard focuses on all the four free range poultry groups of chicken, turkey, duck and guinea fowl. It takes into consideration the health consciousness and animal welfare concerns which are now seriously being upheld by consumers world over,” she added.
She said the standard would give scope for commercial production and marketing of free range poultry and its products. It targets domestic and export market.
The implementation of this standard will go a long way in ensuring credible and sustainable growth of the free range poultry sector.
Government introduced the Presidential Poultry Scheme as one of the eight facets under the Rural Development 8.0 model.
It targets to boost nutrition and incomes for at least three million rural households drawn from Zimbabwe’s rural communities.
The Presidential Poultry Scheme launched on August 25 last year in Masvingo has since spread its wings to all the country’s 10 provinces in line with the Government mantra of “Leaving No One and No Place Behind.”
The Presidential Poultry Scheme saw households getting 10 free-range chicks each in batches over a five-year period.
The scheme will see rural communities become hubs for organically-produced live chicken, eggs and chicken meat in the next two to three years, with the country set to earn foreign currency from exports.
Mrs Jiji said the ZFRPA has to date distributed 789 549 birds at different ages, 33 891 Stress Mix packs and 36 716 packets of 10 kilogramme bags of feed countrywide.
So far about 78 955 households have directly benefitted from programme with over 2 000 people being employed by the producers’ members.
The launch of the standards will be a plus for Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) which has since established domestic markets for the large volumes of organically produced live chicken, eggs and chicken meat.
ZimTrade is also on a crusade to explore foreign markets for the country’s poultry.
Online Reporter