Midlands Correspondent
THE Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) plans to set up a small dairy project at its Fair Acres Estate in Silobela for the local community as part of its efforts to ensure food security and nutrition.
ARDA board chairman Basil Nyabadza told Chronicle Business that the project would be kick started with an initial herd of 30 dairy cows.
He said the dairy cows will be fed from the residue of the crop at the Estate.
Said Nyabadza: “We’re setting up milking troughs for the local community in Silobela at our Fair Acres Estate. The project is to ensure that there’s nutrition especially among young children, which will be done through the schools feeding programme in the community.
This is one of our mandate and as a starting point we’ll bring in 30 herd of cattle for the project.
“The project will be on an ongoing basis and as the hectarage increases it will be complemented by an additional cattle herd. We want the by product of the crop to be used as stock feed”.
Nyabadza said currently Fair Acres Estates, which is being jointly run by Northern Farming, is under 500 hectares of soya beans.
He said efforts to ramp up production to 1,000 hectares were being hampered by poor irrigation infrastructure, low water reserves, power outages as well as a poor road network.
ARDA is seeking $500,000 for the rehabilitation of the irrigation equipment.
During a tour of the Fair Acres Estate recently, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa said government would extend a loan to ARDA to rehabilitate infrastructure in some of its estates to boost agriculture output.
ARDA is in the process of revitalizing all its 21 estates through entering Public Private Partnership arrangements with private players.