How much water do pigs need to drink? In hot weather they go to the watering point and seem to be looking for more water. Is giving them water once or twice a day enough? They tend to knock containers over and waste water. What is the best way to…
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) says it will this year provide a US$70 million support facility to shore up productivity and competitiveness in the small-scale tobacco production sector. Central bank Governor Dr. John Mangudya said the interventions will be made through the RBZ Tobacco Finance Facility, administered by the…
The Zimbabwean government says fall armyworm has destroyed nearly 150 000 hectares of the maize in all 10 provinces of the country. According to the preliminary findings of an impact survey done by the Agricultural Technical and Extension Services (Agritex), the current fall armyworm (FAW) outbreak poses a threat to…
The Zimbabwean government has halted imports of a wide range of processed meat products from South Africa (SA) to prevent the spread of listeriosis. Listeria has killed 180 people since breaking out in SA late last year. On Sunday, Health Minister Aaron Motswaledi identified a food processing plant in Polokwane…
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is offering Zimbabwean farmers who shifted to Zambia at the height of the controversial land reform programme, incentives to return. Zambia’s online newspaper Watchdog reports the drive to get the farmers to relocate back to Zimbabwe is being carried out through special emissaries, while a high…
The Zimbabwe Coffee Mill (ZCM) says the country’s formerly vibrant commercial coffee farming sector has all but collapsed. ZCM director Johane Jori told local media that production has slumped by nearly 3 000% over the past 28 years due to production disturbances arising from the land reform programme and lack…
WB Chambers is negotiating for new berry farming partnerships in Zimbabwe, Kenya and Morocco to meet demand from a new British supermarket chain. Chambers Production Director Salih Hodzhov told Fruitnet that it also wants to secure additional berry producer and import deals with Spanish and Moroccan farmers. “We are having a…
The Zimbabwean government has launched a US$300 million Special Livestock, Fisheries and Wildlife Programme to improve livestock production to support the revival of the meat value chain in the country. The programme was launched in Matabeleland South. The Zimbabwean government has invested US$80 million in the programme, while the private…
The British Department for International Development (DFID) has granted £21.5 million to fund a programme to build Zimbabwean smallholder farmers’ resilience against climate change. The Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund (ZRBF) will be managed by the Harare office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with the Zimbabwean Ministry of Lands,…
The Zimbabwean government has banned the movement of all cloven-hoofed animals between Mashonaland West province and the capital Harare following a fresh outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD). The Department of Livestock and Veterinary Services (DLVS) culled and incinerated an infected herd of 17 stud animals including Simmentaler, Brahman…
In an interview from Harare, Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) Director Ben Gilpin told Africanfarming.com that while the union is not opposed to South African farmers investing and participating in the revival of agriculture in Zimbabwe, the government should give preference and protection to local farmers who lost finances and assets…
The Department of Livestock and Veterinary Services (DLVS) of Zimbabwe has declared the country free of avian influenza, which impacted the poultry sector last year. The outbreak led to the culling of over 215 000 birds and caused widespread shortages of chicken products, which in turn led to a skyrocketing…
Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement has ordered all 8 provincial resettlement offices in the country to start issuing 99-year land leases to the remaining white commercial farmers. The order is expected to benefit an estimated 200 white commercial farmers who are still operating in the country and…
Former Zimbabwean farmers whose farms were seized during the country’s controversial land expropriation programme are claiming US$9 billion in damages and compensation. The country’s National Gazette reports the compensation claim by the farmers was presented to President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Mnangagwa has pledged to stabilise the economy, including revisiting the compensation…
A former Zimbabwean commercial farming enterprise has sued Joseph Chinotimba, a war veteran and self-styled leader of the invasion of white-owned farms, for US$842 000 for losses arising from the forcible seizure of a farm in 2015. In submissions made to the High Court of Zimbabwe in Harare late last…
An innovation for crop and livestock integration has lifted profits and resilience for about 60 000 livestock farmers in Zimbabwe. The adoption of mucuna, a high protein, drought-tolerant legume, has enabled livestock farmers in the drylands of Nkayi and Gwanda districts to diversify their income sources. The innovation is brainchild…
Scores of fish have died in a case of suspected natural sulphide poisoning along the course of the Deka River, a major tributary of the Zambezi that runs through the Hwange District in north-western Zimbabwe. According to local media reports, mass fish deaths have been confirmed in 3 locations along…
The government of Zimbabwe says it will not reverse the expropriation of white-owned farms that were already gazetted as State land by the administration of former President Robert Mugabe, unless the acquisition procedure violated the law. Asked to comment on whether recent reports of white farmers in Masvingo Province being…
Bringing an existing fish production demonstration unit into operation and the planned establishment of a national aquaculture diagnostic laboratory are positive developments that will improve fish health and boost farm productivity, says the Fish Producers’ Association of Zimbabwe. The aquaculture diagnostic lab will be housed at the Veterinary Research Laboratory,…
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) will support Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Uganda to add value to their cotton sectors. “We expect improved capacity of policymakers to formulate evidence-based polices that improve the value add to cotton and devise investment profiles to attract investors,” said Kris Terauds,…
Zimbabwe’s new Agriculture Minister, Perence Shiri, has ordered illegal occupiers to immediately vacate farms grabbed from white farmers from early 2000 onward. “All those who were illegally settled, or who just settled themselves on resettlement land, should vacate immediately,” Shiri was quoted by the government-owned The Herald newspaper. Shiri’s order…
The Zimbabwean agricultural sector has remained largely uncompetitive despite production increases attributed to government interventions like the Presidential Input Support Scheme and the command agriculture model adopted in the 2016/’17 season, a local think tank has said. In its latest edition of the Zimbabwe National Competitiveness Report (ZNCR) for 2017,…
The Zimbabwe Fish Producers’ Association (ZFPA) has confirmed an outbreak of epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) among fish in 25 bodies of water across 15 districts of the country. EUS is a high-mortality fish disease caused by a fungal agent. Its primary symptoms include skin lesions that cause sickness and often…
Zimbabwean Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa presented a US$5.1 billion budget for 2018 last week. Local media reports that it includes a list of business and investor friendly proposals, as well as plans to rejuvenate agriculture as a major driver of economic growth. The budget also includes measures to mend Zimbabwe’s…