The government with support from the European Union have invested in the goat meat value-adding chain to increase profits to the farmers by cutting the middlemen so as to compete with markets.
Addressing delegates at the launch of the Rushinga Goat Improvement Centre, Action Aid Zimbabwe Director, Head of the Project Steering committee, Joy Mabenge said the team commissioned a scoping study that interrogated the goat value chain from input supply to marketing.
“Results of the study revealed that there is the domination of middlemen in the marketing framework who take up to 55% of the share value created in the value chain leaving producers to walk away with 17% of the shared value,” he said.
To cut out the middlemen, Mabenge said the steering committee strategized on direct meat marketing where farmers aggregate collectively at the Goat Improvement Centers, thereafter, undertake secondary aggregation at Goat Holding Centers established at Henderson and Matopos Research Station, and organise direct marketing with at least 1500 butcheries servicing consumers in the Harare and Bulawayo market which consumes, 50 – 60% of all goat meat.
“With time and more direct marketing arrangements, farmers are integrating vertically and expanding their control in the value chain, thereby increasing their profit margins and share value from the sale of their animals. Gradually, this will reset the governance structure in the goat value chain,” said Mabenge.As part of the project, the government and partners injected new genetics into goat production to address the challenges brought by tired genetics and inbreeding by importing 312 goat breeding stock from Namibia in the form of Boer goats and Kalahari Reds.
The idea was to multiply the genetics and ensure affordable access by small and medium players. In addition, we committed two bucks to each goat improvement centre to accelerate the production of improved breeds.
In an interview with 263Chat, Regis Kasako a beneficiary from the project said farmers are now dealing with the end-user of the value chain hence the farmer gets all the profits.
“This project has allowed us access to the end-user. Now we kill goats here because all the clients want is meat hence cutting out the middle man. This development gets people to taste the actual taste of goat meat because all this while goats would be sold to middlemen who sell it to other middlemen travelling miles across the country hence stressing the goat and making it lose its good taste,” added Kasako.
This project will benefit 10 000 farmers registered with the 12 District Goat Producer Business Associations established across the country.
