BY MTHANDAZO NYONI THE Zimbabwe Rabbit Breeders Association (Zicorba) says it is considering starting contract growing schemes in partnership with Raymeg Consultants, a local firm with interests in the sector.
Zicorba president Regis Nyamakanga told delegates during the association’s second anniversary celebrations in Harare at the weekend that demand for rabbit meat was growing in Zimbabwe. He said this had necessitated the need to boost production.
Along with growing domestic demand, export markets have been opening up as well, according to Nyamakanga.
He said in the past week, the organisation had received requests to ship meat to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Botswana.
“As the market for rabbit meat in Zimbabwe grows, we are toying with the idea of starting contract growing schemes in partnership with a local rabbit firm, Raymeg Consultants Private Limited,” Nyamakanga said.
“We see rabbit production playing a catalytic role in the growth and development of our economy through employment creation, generation of the much-needed foreign currency and the general improvement of livelihoods,” he added.
“The growth of our industry will create many opportunities for downstream industries such as cage makers, feed-mixers, rabbit nest makers, rabbit feeders and drinkers’ suppliers, rabbit urine and rabbit droppings vendors, rabbit tanneries and pet food makers, just to mention a few,” he said.
Raymeg has built from scratch a US$1 million export-certified rabbit abattoir in Harare which has a capacity to slaughter between 2,5 tonnes and 3,5 tonnes within eight hours.
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The abattoir has entered into trade agreements with leading supermarket chains in Zimbabwe for the latter to sell rabbit meat, creating the much-needed market for Zicorba members.
So far this year, over 10 tonnes of rabbits have been processed at the abattoir, according to Raymeg Consultants executive director, Paidamoyo Nyamakanga, who said the numbers could easily go up if supply increases.
Midesha Private Limited, another Zicorba corporate partner based in Bulawayo, is set to build another rabbit abattoir in the country’s second largest city.
The Zicorba chief said over the next five years, the rabbit industry could easily generate upwards of US$3 million from domestic sales, driven largely by access to affordable breeding stock, availability of funding, quick gestation period, broad-based participation in cuniculture production across the country, availability of more rabbit slaughter houses and envisaged uptake in consumption due to the health benefits of eating rabbit meat.
“There is a potential to export rabbit meat to other African countries and China, which has demand in excess of 400 000 tonnes per year. Already this week, we received numerous enquiries from Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo for us to supply them with rabbit meat,” he said.
“The massive interest in rabbit production in Zimbabwe over the past two years and launch of the country’s first rabbit abattoir has placed Zimbabwe in good stead to becoming one of the major players in the rabbit industry in Africa,” Nyamakanga said.
In a short space of time, the association has forged strategic alliances with other rabbit farmers’ associations in Kenya, Zambia, South Africa, Uganda, Mozambique, eSwatini (formerly Swaziland), Nigeria and Botswana as the organisation targets to transform Zimbabwe into one of the region’s biggest producers.
“We aim to be among the top three rabbit-producing countries in Africa in the next five years,” Nyamakanga said.
He added that the massive gains made in the domestic market over the past two years were being threatened by recent stockfeed price increases.
Price hikes in Zimbabwe have cut across markets, underpinned by rising inflation, which reached 191% last month, from 131% in May.
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