Livestock market update July 2016 | The Herald July 8, 2016
Zimbabwe Fish Producers Association
The Zimbabwe Fish Producers Association will be holding their Inaugural general meeting on Friday July 22, 2016 in the Andy Miller Hall, Exhibition Park, Harare.This event follows the successful launch event held in March.
At the July 22 meeting, the association will be constituted and a council elected to manage its affairs. Membership for the half year July to December 2016 will also open to all those interested in fish farming, including services providers such as feed manufacturers, suppliers of fish nets and equipment and both large and small scale producers.
Exhibitors will once again set up their stands at the event for networking and providing information for fish farmers. The programme starts at 8.30am with tea and registration, followed by a welcome and official opening at 9 am.
Fish feed and health is a relevant topic for new fish farmers and an integral part of a viable and successful business operation. Mr Gerry McCollum has been intimately involved in the formulation of fish feed for the Zimbabwean market and will talk about the necessity of an appropriate diet for the various stages of fish production from fingerling to breeding. Pond construction and getting the basics right is also important information that will be shared with prospective fish producers.
This will be followed by the inaugural general meeting which will formally constitute the association and elect a council for the forthcoming year to manage its affairs and activities.
After lunch, case studies and an economic model for fish farming will be discussed. The presentations will end with a talk on cage farming by Mr Sokonya Kaitano, a successful small scale producer from the Karoi area.
The cost is $10 per person and this includes all teas, a hot lunch and an information pack. Tickets are available from the office or at the door on the day.
Zimbabwe Herd Book National Bull and Heifer Sale
Once again, the Herd Book’s premier event will be held on Friday July 29, 2016 at the Mt Hampden Sale pens. A capacity crowd attended last year’s event and it is expected that cattle producers from around the country will once again be present this year.
On offer is a range of top quality Kalahari Red bucks, Dorper rams and ewes, Holstein bulls and a range of beef bulls and heifers from Beef master, Blonde d’Aquitaine, Boran, Brahman, Mashona, Santa Gertrudis, Simbrah, Simmental and Tuli stud herds. All animals have been inspected for various criteria and the buyer is assured of being able to purchase exceptional animals with sound genetics and adaptations to the Zimbabwean environment.
Stud animals registered with the Herd Book have now exceeded 12, 000 represented by 90 goat, sheep, dairy and beef stud breeders, supported by seven breed associations. Breed Plan®, the world’s leading performance recording software, was upgraded in May and the new programme will assist the industry adopt a more scientific approach to cattle breeding.
Difficult conditions face cattle producers this year as the poor rains have resulted in water shortages and limited grazing in many parts of the country as well as low maize, soya and cotton yields which will impact on the availability of raw materials for cattle feed. The late rains in March provided some respite for producers and some areas have reported good grass cover, so important for winter grazing.
The Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak has seriously disrupted livestock production and the meat trade. Stakeholders have met regularly to draw up a National FMD Strategy to manage and control further outbreaks of the disease.
Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance
Zimbabwe is part of the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) to manage the use of antibiotics and slow down the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Livestock producers will play a key role in the National AMR Action Plan which Zimbabwe is developing in an FAO coordinated programme.
There is growing global concern about antimicrobial resistance and the implications on human and animal health, as well as the economic and environmental cost of antibiotic failure. AMR is a naturally occurring process which arises when a microbe (such as bacteria, fungi or virus), mutates and becomes resistant to the antibiotics, anti-fungals or antivirals used to treat it. AMR is being accelerated by overuse, misuse and abuse of antibiotics today.
Stakeholders across the spectrum – representing human health, the pharmaceutical industry, veterinary science, the livestock industry, the environment and others are collectively drawing up Zimbabwe’s National AMR Action Plan. The first phase of the project, an analysis identifying gaps in knowledge and capacity and a working draft of the National Action Plan on AMR is expected to be completed by September.
Feed Manufacturing Sector
In June, it was reported that grain is being delivered to the Grain Marketing Board. Producers are being paid $390/mt while private grain merchants are offering $340 – 360/mt. The Zambian government has authorized the Food Reserve Agency to resume grain exports and consequently, grain from Zambia is landing in Harare at $350 – $360/mt.
Estimates for the 2015/16 soya-bean harvest have not changed and is between 25 – 30,000mt. GM-free soya-beans are being imported from South Africa, landing in Harare at $566/mt.
Small farmers in Zimbabwe now have access to palletisation technology, thanks to local innovation. Zimbabweans Victor Marufu, Chief Executive at the Zimbabwe Organic and Natural Foods Association and animal scientist Gospell Matondi have put their heads together to devise a method for farmers to produce their own pelletised stockfeed, using readily available ingredients. Marufu has developed a locally manufactured machine, a simple piece of equipment that will run on generator, solar or diesel power as well as electricity. It produces 200-300kg of pellets per hour. Matondi has devised an easy to use computer programme to calculate the optimal nutritional and cost balance of feed ingredients.
These two innovations work together to make optimum use of readily available feed ingredients – by ensuring they are optimally balanced for nutrition, and by improving feed uptake and digestibility through the palletisation process.
Beef Sector
The Zimbabwe Association of Abattoirs (ZAA) reports that 10 200 cattle were bought by member operators during May 2106. Of the cattle, 7 percent were purchased at auctions, 56 percent from the smallholder farming areas and 36 percent from farmers and traders who delivered cattle to the abattoir gate.
Thirteen percent of the total purchases by abattoir operators were classified as super, 2 percent as choice, 45 percent as commercial, 32 percent as economy and 3 percent as manufacturing grade.
Resolution of the hides and skins issue is ongoing and the Association has noted that current export policies to encourage local benefaction of hides and skins has created a stockpile of hides at abattoirs, discouraged the collection of hides and skins from rural areas and denied the country valuable foreign currency.
ZAA has suggested some modification to the current policy to ensure it strengthens the livestock and leather value chain and maximises its contribution to the Zimbabwean economy. The policy amendment includes:
Removing the current $0.75/kg export surtax on export of raw hides;
Replacing it with an export surtax of 15 percent and 10 percent on both raw and wet blue hides, respectively and a special tax of 15 percent on imports of leather products;
Ensuring adequate supply of hides to local tanneries through a determined quarterly export quota that reflects effective demand by tanneries;
Establishing a revolving fund financed by the proceeds of the export surtax and import tax that will be used to invest in the development of the livestock and leather value chain.
Dairy Sector
The Zimbabwe Association of Dairy Farmers will be hosting their Annual General Meeting and Expo and on July 19, 2016 at Cresta Sango Conference Centre. An update on the dairy industry as well as on policy and regulatory initiatives to improve competitiveness in the sector will be debated. The National Dairy Development Strategy and the way forward will be presented. Visits to a production system in Lobenvale and the Milk Collection Centre at Domboshawa will take place in the afternoon.
The Dairy School will be held on July 20, 2016 and this event has attracted excellent speakers who will make presentations on Lucerne and pastures, improving feed efficiencies and rearing productive heifers. Getting a grip on fertility is an important aspect of a viable milk production business and this topic will be also discussed in depth at the Dairy School.
The event will be supported by exhibitors and service providers in the dairy industry.
Poultry Sector
The Zimbabwe Poultry Association has drafted a code of practice for poultry producers taking into consideration the interests of the three main groups in the industry, i. e.
The needs of the consumer;
The needs of poultry producers; and
The needs of the industry as a whole.
The code has been drafted in an attempt to define standards of well-being for commercial poultry operations, research and educational facilities to ensure that adequate facilities and resources are available to supply proper housing, quality feed and water, attendance to sick and injured chickens and all else to ensure the well-being of the birds.
Pork Sector
The Pig Industry Board hosted a stakeholders meeting in June to discuss grave concerns in the pig industry.
The Board also recently imported new genetics from 11 females and five boars whose semen is now available. They will be hosting training courses on artificial insemination in the future.
The pork market is still very depressed and demand is low. The producer price is pegged at $2.45 – $2.60/kg while the wholesale price ranges from $2.80 – $3.05/kg.
Meat Processing Sector
The Meat Processors Association of Zimbabwe will host their first Annual General Meeting on July 8, 2016. It has been a difficult year for the industry as sales have diminished considerably and challenges still exist in the importation of mechanically de-boned meat, an essential raw ingredient used in the manufacture of processed meats and sausages.
Fish Sector
Much work on fish policy and standards (including packaging and labelling, sanitary and phytosanitary aspects), has been done regionally and a number of initiatives are being carried out to harmonise local policy and standards with these.
The fish market is soft, yet there is a demand for fish and its products. This is being attributed to the prevailing cash shortages. Imports of jack mackerel are relatively high, averaging 1,700mt per month according to official statistics.
