Export Awareness Seminar for Mat South goat meat producers

THE country’s trade promoting body, ZimTrade, will next month hold an Export Awareness Seminar for Matabeleland South Province goat meat producers.

The seminar, which is part of ZimTrade’s Capacity Building interventions, is aimed at nurturing small to medium-scale enterprises into viable export entities.

“Aspects such as packaging and branding, food healthy and safety standards as well market analysis tools will be presented. The continued soaring global demand for goat meat presents an opportunity to Zimbabwe’s goat producers,” said ZimTrade.

According to Trade Map, the global demand for goat meat has increased by 125 percent in the past 10 years from $151 million in 2006 to $342 million in 2016.

However, for Zimbabwe, there is a need to capacitate local goat meat producers to increase exports of this product. Training on best practice animal husbandry rearing can contribute towards increased production. “There is also the need for assistance in the establishment of proper infrastructure (handling and slaughtering) and advanced technological equipment in the relevant farming communities.

“The establishment of goat-breeding consortiums could afford producers access to improved services such as integrated slaughtering as well as marketing systems to facilitate exports,” said ZimTrade.

According to an International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics research paper (National & Regional Livestock Markets: Opportunities for Growth in Southern African Development Community), lessons from Namibia revealed that support such as farmers’ mentorship programme and infrastructure development to smallscale producers has greatly improved the country’s goat meat production.

This led to livestock contributing approximately 80 percent of the agricultural Gross Domestic Product according to a research by Food and Agriculture Organisation of 2005.