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George Maponga Masvingo Bureau

At least 3 million rural households drawn from Zimbabwe’s rural communities now have an opportunity to boost their nutrition and incomes through the Presidential Rural Poultry Scheme launched by President Mnangagwa in Masvingo yesterday.

The scheme is part of various measures aimed at transforming Zimbabwe into an upper-middle income society by 2030.

The Presidential Rural Poultry Scheme will see rural households getting 10 free-range chicks each in batches, over a five-year period, as part of the Second Republic’s drive to alleviate poverty and boost rural incomes in line with the policy of leaving no one and no place behind.

The scheme has raised hopes among rural communities that they will soon become hubs for organically-produced live chicken, eggs and chicken meat in the next two to three years, with the country set to earn thousands of dollars from exports of the products.

President Mnangagwa, who was represented at the launch of the poultry scheme at Musakanda Village in Charumbira communal lands by Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka, hailed the scheme for its potential to contribute to national development goals under Vision 2030 of an empowered and prosperous upper middle income society.

President Mnangagwa said the poultry scheme will greatly boost household and national food security and nutrition with scope for improved employment creation and an increase in exports and income for rural households.

This poultry scheme, which falls under the Livestock Growth Plan (2021-25), will also improve the welfare and livelihoods of mostly those who stay in rural areas through sustainable livestock production.

Zimbabwe’s poultry industry is expected to transform into big business and a key cog of the national economy through the development of hatcheries, transport and logistics business, refrigeration services and much more.

‘’Chicken is the most consumed protein in Zimbabwe with a per capita consumption of 12kg per person per year,” said President Mnangagwa.

“It is estimated that Zimbabwe has over 50 million indigenous chickens. This Presidential Rural Poultry Scheme intends to provide 30 million rural chickens to three million households throughout the country.

‘’Priority in the distribution of the poultry should include vulnerable groups, women and youth-headed families.’’

All the chicks to be distributed under the poultry scheme have been vaccinated already, while recipient households have also undergone thorough training in poultry production.

The training covers aspects of rearing, disease control, best management practices, among others, before a beneficiary gets the poultry.

Procurement of the chickens will be done under a model that envisages both centralised and decentralised procurement of chickens with the latter expected to spur rural entrepreneurship in line with the rural development agenda.

President Mnangagwa said the increased demand for organic products around the globe creates a potential lucrative market for rural poultry, with Zimbabwe expected to be a major player producing over two million chickens annually when the fruits from the poultry scheme peak in about five years from now.

‘’Currently, the country has only an estimated 50 million rural chickens. Therefore this scheme requires access to high value markets for its sustainability.

“The Agricultural Marketing Authority has sought domestic markets for the large volumes of organically-produced live chicken, eggs and chicken meat anticipated within 2 to 3 years after the launch of this programme. Similarly, ZimTrade is exploring foreign markets for rural poultry.’’

Before delivering the President’s speech, Minister Masuka had appealed to rural communities to repay President Mnangagwa and his administration for the visionary leadership that seeks to uplift rural areas by overwhelmingly voting for the ruling Zanu PF party during next year’s harmonised elections.

Minister Masuka said the rural poultry scheme would complement other schemes introduced by President Mnangagwa’s administration including the borehole-drilling scheme, all of which are aimed to modernising rural areas in line with Vision 2030.

On behalf of President Mnangagwa, Minister Masuka then handed over symbolic 32 100 chicks to all the Ministers of Provincial Affairs or their representatives,  officially marking the launch of the rural poultry scheme.

Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Ezra Chadzamira, praised President Mnangagwa for delivering on his promise to develop rural areas and making sure no one and no place is left behind.

Mrs Eustina Jim of Mapfumo village in Charumbira communal lands, saluted the President for the scheme.

‘’We are very happy with what President Mnangagwa has done for us today because we are not only going to boost our diet through chickens, but we will also be able to sell both the eggs and chickens and earn income to support our families.

“The President is a visionary because poultry production has always been the project of choice for most rural households so it will be easy for us to embrace and develop it,” she said.

Mrs Anna Mureba of Mujahore village under Charumbira communal lands described the poultry project as historic and timely.

‘’This is a great day for us the people of Charumbira because we have been given a jump-start to venture into poultry production to feed our families and even sell to raise income to send our children to school.

“Some of us have already been trained at Sipambi Skills Development Training Centre on how to run the poultry project, which means we will be able to  commercially run our enterprises and grow them. We want to thank our President for this move,” said Mrs Mureba.

Mr Ebias Mureba of Kandira village described the poultry project as a game-changer saying in the near future, most rural communities will be transformed into key sources of chicken meat thereby uplifting the lives of the rural folk.

Chief Fortune Charumbira praised President Mnangagwa for initiating what he called “grassroots-based” development by launching a project that has a direct bearing on people at the grassroots.

He said the launch of the poultry scheme showed that President Mnangagwa is a people’s President who listens to their concerns and actions them.

‘’The President has hit the nail on the head by launching what I can call a ‘demand-driven’ project. Our people have always done poultry but what they lacked was capacity to kick-start and even enhance their projects and the President has just given them that.

“Our people have been given the impetus to expand poultry production and they will do it,’’ said Chief Charumbira.

The launch was attended by senior Government officials including Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services Minister, Dr Jenfan Muswere, Ministers of State and traditional leaders among others.