Pig producers eye Angola market

18 Jan, 2015 - 00:01 0 Views
Pig producers eye  Angola market

The Sunday News

pigsDumisani Nsingo Senior Business Reporter
PIG producers in consultation with Government and other agencies are putting final touches to meet pork export standards following a preliminary agreement to export to Angola as local demand has remained depressed.Pork is selling at about $3 per kilogramme locally, officials said, while other meat products are averaging $5, a situation most pig farmers say was not profitable.

Zimbabwe Association of Pig Producers (ZAPP) vice-president Mr Winston Babbage said pig producers were in the process of consulting ZimTrade, the Department of Veterinary Services, Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) and the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare in a bid to ensure that the pork destined for export met the required standards.

“We have realised that a number of pig producers are failing to get real value from selling their pork products and as such we are looking at ways of breaking into the Angolan market.

“The reason we intend to pursue this particular market is due to the fact that ZimTrade indicated to us that there is a huge market opportunity for pork products there. Thus we are already working on modalities in preparation to start exporting probably this year,” Mr Babbage said.

He said the producers were also engaging the Vet Department to get information on the areas that are free from Foot and Mouth Disease.

Locally, he said, the low pricing model had forced a number of farmers to stop selling.

While pork is cheap, he said religious beliefs especially among Christians,  many of whom do not consume pork, were also negatively impacting demand.

The majority of the country’s populace are Christians in terms of religious classification.

However, Mr Babbage said owing to these curtailing factors pig producers had enough pigs to explore export markets.

He said the organisation was also in the process of identifying a state-of-the-art abattoir to be used for the slaughtering and packaging of the pork.

“We intend to identify a well equipped abattoir that will be utilised to prepare pork that will be destined to the Angolan market. We will engage SAZ to certify the infrastructure and teach us about the global gap with regards to specific required standards for products.

“Colcom is already supplying that market and our wish is to also get a niche there. We intend to use the Angolan market as a springboard to further explore other markets in the continent or beyond,” Mr Babbage said.

ZAPP in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union has entered into an agreement with a stockfeed manufacturer to give affiliates of the two organisations discounts when purchasing pig meal.

“There are a number of people that are into piggery but we realise that most of them are doing so for speculative purposes and these are the ones that rely on feeding their pigs on food leftovers instead of buying proper feed.

“A number of pig producers are reluctant to join the association because they always ask what’s in there for me? However, they should be cognisant of the fact that they will get the best training in proper management and upkeep of pigs as well as benefit from an array of schemes be it by Government or non-governmental organisations,” Mr Babbage said.

ZAPP was formed more than 10 years ago through Government’s Livestock Input Scheme which was being spearheaded by the Pig Industry Board.

Mr Babbage said ZAPP had come up with a number of strategies to revive the pig sector.

“We intend bringing back the pig sales at livestock auction floors thus we are looking forward to rekindlling the agreement we had with the auctioneer, CC Sales.  We are also going to entice National Foods to come up with prices and trophies for the pig shows or displays. This will encourage rural pig producers to come up into town with their animals instead of falling prey to unscrupulous buyers,” he said.

The ZAPP vice-president who is also the ZCFU Matabeleland North Province chairman also said there was a need for the country’s pig producers to improve their genetics so as to get real value from their animals.

 

Share This:

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds