Mhondoro-Ngezi injects $100k into poultry project

AT least 250 jobs have been created over the past two months following the injection of $100 000 into a poultry project being administered by Mhondoro-Ngezi rural district council.

The layers project, which started in January this year, is part of income-generating projects being implemented by the local authority in order to boost revenue inflows.

In an interview yesterday, council chairperson Mr Ephraim Chengeta said the ward-based project had created employment for the local community.

“As part of empowering our community while at the same time generating revenue for our council, we decided to embark on this project at ward level. More than 250 people are directly involved in this project.

“The first batch of layers was successful and we have since sold them and at the moment we are looking forward to receiving a new batch in a few days,” he said.

Mr Chengeta said during the initial stages of the project, council was facing shortages of layers to support all the wards.

“The layers are not enough due to poor revenue and to avert this, there is need to engage more stakeholders,” he said.

Mhondoro-Ngezi is also embarking on various projects, including the 29 hectare Turf Gum Plantation in which the council injected $5 300.

The local authority has over 30 hectares of land under different stages of development in the gum plantation at Turf.

Other plantations within the district schools and communities are being primed for incorporation as feeders for the recently commissioned gum treatment plant at Turf.

Mhondoro-Ngezi, which has a population of about 104 000 people, is made up 16 wards categorised as communal, resettlement schemes, peri-urban and large commercial farms.