Elita Chikwati Agriculture Reporter
Government has imposed a penalty on the export of raw hides to encourage value addition and beneficiation, a Government official has said.
This is in line with the provisions of Zim-Asset’s value addition and beneficiation cluster.Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, responsible for livestock production, Cde Paddy Zhanda, said dealers exporting raw hides would be levied US$0,75 per kilogramme of the hides.
“There is a glut in the movement of hides because of the penalties being charged on raw products.
“Government has compelled people to process hides before they are exported.
“We are encouraging value addition of products in line with Zim-Asset,” he said.
Cde Zhanda said the Cold Storage Company used to have a wet glue factory in Bulawayo that enabled abattoirs to process their hides before they were sold.
The facility is no longer functional.
“I urge abattoirs to come up with partnerships and make use of the factory,” he said,” he said.
According to Zim-Asset, the value addition and beneficiation strategy is anchored on the private sector taking a key role in the funding and execution activities contained in the blueprint with Government providing the necessary support in terms of alignment, consistency and cohesion of policies.
This includes establishing agro-processing projects, apiculture, processing and canning of fruits and vegetables, oil expression, leather and leather products.
Cde Zhanda said Government was about to finalise the livestock policy document that would guide the livestock industry.
“Government is good at policies, but what is lacking is implementation. The missing link is how to get the objectives, the implementation matrix is not there,” he said.
He complained of lack of funding of the livestock industry, which he said was hampering production.
Cde Zhanda said the available funding was expensive, while it had to be repaid within a short period, making it non-viable for livestock production.