Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
The Catholic Relief Services has availed $37 000 to spearhead a goat production programme to economically empower 2 000 small-scale farmers here.
Beitbridge Rural District Council chief executive officer Mr Peter Moyo said the project will run for 18 months in all the 15 rural wards.
He said they had already trained two field workers to spearhead the initiative in Beitbridge East and West constituencies.
He said the livestock production project will kick-off beginning of next month.
Said Mr Moyo: “We have the capacity to produce top quality goats though we have to improve in a few project management areas.
“You will note that we are in an agricultural region where livestock production if rife and hence the need to create model farmers for the district.
“It is important to adopt a business management model if farmers are to derive maximum benefits from these animals.”
He said the goat production will be rolled out concurrently with fodder production.
Mr Moyo said with the help of Catholic Relief Services, they had established 28 Farmer Learning Centres in the district.
The centres, he said, were an important component in empowering small scale farmers with production and marketing skills.
“We have discovered that though our farmers are good with rearing methods, marketing remains a great challenge.
“The whole idea is to provide that missing link by pooling together all the development players involved in animal husbandry activities,” he said.