Crop-livestock intensification in Zimbabwe: Closing the loop to sustainability [ICRISAT Eastern and Southern Africa 2011 Highlights]

ICRISAT, ESA (2012) Crop-livestock intensification in Zimbabwe: Closing the loop to sustainability [ICRISAT Eastern and Southern Africa 2011 Highlights]. Monograph. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics , Patancheru, Andhra Pradesh, India.

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Abstract

This chapter describes inclusive market-oriented development innovations in the smallholder goat value chain in southwestern Zimbabwe. The key actors in the value chain - goat keepers, feed suppliers, meat processors, government animal health agencies, and development organizations - decided to form an association called an 'innovation platform' to improve the functioning of the value chain. One innovation was for the feed suppliers to increase the supply of feed to rural areas during the feed-short dry season, which improved improved goat health and survival. Another was to build pens where the animals could be safely kept while being sold, reducing theft and streamlining the sales process. Auctions were also established to enable small-scale goat keepers to obtain market-competitive prices for their animals instead of losing out to middlemen at the farm gate. Today more than 85% of sales of goats take place at auctions. As a result of these innovations, the amount of money received by goat keepers for each animal has approximately doubled.

Item Type: Monograph (Monograph)
Divisions: UNSPECIFIED
CRP: UNSPECIFIED
Subjects: Others > Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics
Others > Maize
Depositing User: Mr Siva Shankar
Date Deposited: 15 Mar 2013 09:08
Last Modified: 16 Mar 2013 09:00
URI: http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/6660
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