Zim needs to improve animal husbandry practices for quality hides

THERE is need to improve animal husbandry practices in Zimbabwe’s leather sector so that hides collected are of a premium quality and suitable for the export market, an expert has said.

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

A senior PUM expert in the leather and textile sector, Hans Akkerman, said companies intending to penetrate the export market should improve their processes to produce quality products.

“Akkerman advised leather manufacturers to invest in improving their production processes through acquiring new machinery and developing new or improved designs,” the country’s export promotion body, ZimTrade, said in a report.

“The expert underscored the need to improve animal husbandry practices so that the hides collected are of a premium quality that can be used in the tanning of quality finished leather.”

Statistics available on a ZimTrade mapping tool show a potential for exports of leather products such as handbags, travel ware, furniture and footwear with global import values increasing by 7% from $123 billion in 2011 to $132bn in 2015.

“The Zimbabwe leather value chain players need to work together to ensure that products ultimately destined for export markets are known for quality and niche markets are established for them,” ZimTrade said.

The International Trade Centre says quality is an essential pre-requisite for gaining and maintaining a sustained competitive advantage and market presence in an interconnected world, where goods are sourced from across the globe.

PUM is a Netherlands-based organisation of senior experts, who provide factory floor interventions to companies in various sectors.

Akkerman recently conducted a scoping exercise of the Zimbabwe leather value chain to ascertain the status of operations, as well as identify areas for improvement to increase production efficiencies and competitiveness.

During the engagements with sector players, ZimTrade said some of the manufacturers highlighted that the quality of their finished products was being compromised due to the low quality of locally-produced finished leather.

Mastering the skills for export marketing and developing export marketing plans to guide the companies in exports were some of other recommendations made by the expert, ZimTrade said.