The ManicaPost
Tanyaradzwa Mutizwa Post Correspondent
ZIMBABWE’s livestock sector is thrilled by the prospects of producing the country’s first veterinary vaccines after Treasury provided funding for the programme, The Manica Post has established.
Speaking at the 7th Annual National Agribusiness Conference at the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show in Harare this Wednesday on stakeholders’ preparedness for the 2019/20 summer agricultural season with regards to livestock vaccines, Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC) chief executive officer Professor Robson Mafoti said the they would be in a position to report completing the first batch of locally produced vaccines by year-end if the everything went according to plan.
Seed houses, fertiliser and agro-chemical companies also took the opportunity to announce their preparedness to play their part in making the 2019/2020 agricultural season a success.
Seed Co Limited managing director (Southern Africa) Mr Denias Zaranyika who briefed the conference on the seed supply situation on behalf of all seed houses at the event said they had 35 000 tonnes of maize seed, 8 000 tonnes of wheat seed, 7 000tonnes of soya bean, 1 200 of sugar beans, 1 200 tonnes of sorghum and 8000 tonnes of cotton seed while the Tobacco Research Board (TRB) also confirmed that they had enough seed in their stocks for the season.
Mr Zaranyika highlighted that 13tonnes of the total maize seed were of the early maturity category and could play a critical part in alleviating food shortages in the event of a poor season punctuated by insufficient rains.
Chemplex Corporation chief executive officer Engineer Tapuwa Mashingaidze chipped in calling on Government to capacitate local manufacturers such as Sable Chemicals to produce to capacity and help cut on the import billadding that there was a worrisome dependency on imported that were bleeding Government’s coffers every year.
He said 400 000 tonnes of fertiliser were required for the summer cropping seasonwith an estimated RTGS$2, 2 billion needed for this season’s fertilizer requirements only.
Eng Mashingaidze added that these projections could be met if the RTGS
$3, 2billion funding that treasury availed for fertilizer the sector was channelled to the intended parties on time.
