FOR the last two weeks, my article was focusing on the importance of domestic tourism in sustaining Zambia’s economy amidst economic turbulences.
The good news is that even the new tourism policy has included a component of promoting domestic tourism.
It is therefore important for Zambians to take advantage of the new policy as tourism is one of the country’s major contributors to job creation and foreign exchange earnings.
Already, a named Zambian investor called me to appreciate the article and indicated his intentions of setting up a domestic tourism enterprise in North-western Province of Zambia once the paperwork is done.
I can only wish him well as he engages various Government agencies to obtain relevant licences in his quest to explore this dependable segment of the tourism sector in the Zambian economy.
Away from tourism, I will now look at the potential of the livestock sector in transforming the country’s economy.
During a recent livestock stakeholder consultative meeting held in Livingstone for Southern and Western Provinces, Livingstone District Commissioner Omar Munsanje raised an important issue on the potential of the livestock industry in Zambia.
Mr Munsanje said there was need to add value to livestock products and export the commodity to get more revenue.
“I am only hoping that the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries will ensure that stakeholders in the sector start thinking of value addition to their livestock products so that they get more revenue instead of just selling animals at low prices.
“Animals produce milk, meat and hides among other products which can be improved on and exported to gain more revenue,” Mr Munsanje said.
At the same meeting, Livestock and Fisheries Deputy Minister Lawrence Evans called for the eradication of livestock diseases so that the country could start exporting beef to neighbouring countries.
“If countries like Botswana with desert conditions can export their beef, why can’t we do the same as Zambia when we have plenty of water as well as grazing land and yet we don’t even have a dessert land?” Mr Evans asked.
He said Zambians must start discussing how the country could become a hub of exporting beef and beef products.
Livestock and Fisheries Minister Greyford Monde, who officially opened this consultative meeting, equally stressed the need to eradicate livestock diseases so that the country could reach a level of exporting beef and beef products.
By and large, it is important for Zambians to start discussing the potential of the livestock industry in the Zambian economy amidst the prevailing economic challenges arising from domestic and external factors.
To start with, the livestock industry in Zambia is an important sector for the country’s economy despite the low prominence it has received in the past.
For instance, livestock contributes about 45 per cent to the poorest smallholder’s household income annually.
Further, 83 per cent of rural households own livestock of which 21 per cent is cattle as well as goats at 25 per cent with chickens and pigs standing at 76 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.
At the microeconomic level, these animals provide income to farmers to pay for school fees, dowries, medical bills as well as to buy household groceries and pay for farming inputs among others.
From the macroeconomic point of view, livestock producers and Zambia at large could earn more revenue and create job opportunities if the animals were processed and exported to outside markets.
Zambeef Plc, which is Zambia’s largest beef producer and a firm listed on Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE) with a market capitalisation of more than US$ 70 million, is for example making strides in the area of value addition to livestock but there is need for more firms and producers to invest in similar undertakings.
Zambia should not continue with the usual trend of selling animals in their raw form at low prices on the market.
The country must begin to move along with other countries in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) such as Botswana which are already promoting value addition to livestock products.
Botswana mainly exports its beef to South Africa and other countries in Europe such as United Kingdom (UK) in addition to supplying the commodity to their domestic economy.
Similarly, we should seek to create value chains that lead to the export of finished products to increase employment opportunities in the country.
The SADC region, which was founded more than 30 years ago, has generally been lagging behind in terms of economic transformation and value addition as most products are usually traded or exported in raw form at lower prices.
With a combined population of close to 300 million people and an average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 4.9 per cent in 2013 compared to 4.8 per cent recorded in 2012, most countries in the region are still grappling with the challenges of poverty and persistent skewed trade imbalance.
This is despite the region boasting of vast resources like livestock as well as water and land which are arguably unmatched to most countries on the continent and beyond.
With all things being equal, enhanced value addition in the area of livestock can transform Zambia’s economy as well as other economies in the SADC region.
However, it must be noted that the livestock industry in Zambia is being threatened by animal diseases such as Contagious Bovine Pleuro-Pheumonia (CBPP), Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), East Coast Fever (ECF), African Swine Fever (ASF) and Newcastle Disease (NCD) in poultry.
CBPP, for instance, is one of the national important diseases that have a very devastating effect on cattle through lung infection and it spreads from one animal to another.
It is worth noting that this disease has no effective treatment and therefore movement control remains as one of the most effective measures to control it.
In Kazungula District of Southern Province, for example, the cattle population drastically reduced from 45, 000 herds to 36, 000 within a period of about two years from the year 2004 to 2006 arising from the same CBPP disease.
However, Kazungula District has achieved a growth of cattle from 36, 000 at the peak of the disease outbreak to about 87, 000 herds currently mainly because of the intervention by the Zambian Government and other stakeholders.
The Government, through the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, has put up various measures to control and eradicate livestock diseases in an effort to promote a vibrant livestock sector.
Further, the ministry has identified cattle identification as an important disease control measure to facilitate cattle movement for breeding and trade purposes.
This would be done through branding as well as maintenance of stock registers and enhanced policing of cattle movements by the community through traditional leadership taskforces and other stakeholders like the stock theft wing of the Zambia Police Service.
According to Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Permanent Secretary David Shamulenge, the ministry wants to construct quarantine and modern check point facilities in Southern as well as Lusaka and Northern Provinces to mitigate illegal movement of livestock and control livestock diseases.
Dr Shamulenge says contractors were already there to construct quarantine and a modern check point at Simoonga in Livingstone to help us control the illegal movement of livestock from Western Province to Southern Province.
Similar facilities would be constructed in Lusaka, Nakonde and Mbala to control diseases and illegal movement of livestock.
“We want to have a competitive, viable and sustainable livestock marketing system in Zambia and control the various livestock diseases,” Dr Shamulenge said.
The Ministry is also in the process of conducting a livestock census countrywide to ascertain the available livestock population in the country.
This and many other measures taken by the Government will go a long way in promoting livestock a vibrant sector and ultimately encourage more value addition.
On the international market, the livestock industry is being threatened by factors such as the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures which are usually imposed by the European Union (EU).
SPS are measures that are imposed to protect human, animals and plants from risks arising from imported goods.
Going forward, the country needs to invest more in livestock research to boost productivity and ultimately facilitate value addition in the sector.
On the other hand, farmers and other livestock producers must comply with the advice given to them by researchers unlike in some cases where information from experts is ignored for the fear of the unknown.
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