Inside The Meat Of It: Demystifying Zimbabwe’s Livestock Growth Plan

An increase in livestock production will boost the sector which, together with mining and manufacturing, has been projected to be the key sectors to drive economic rejuvenation By Paison Tazvivinga, and Nyenge Dzinotyiwei In August 2020 cabinet approved a Livestock Growth Plan (LGP) which seeks to enhance the livestock sector to USD1.9 billion by 2025. This is quite a commendable initiative considering that livestock is one of the key subsectors of agriculture. According to World Bank, the agriculture sector contributes about 10% of Zimbabwe’s formal GDP, over 40% of recorded national exports, 60% of raw materials to agro-industries and provides employment and income to over 60% of Zimbabwe’s population. Therefore, an increase in livestock production will boost the sector which, together with mining and manufacturing, has been projected to be the key sectors to drive economic rejuvenation. The livestock growth plan is a key component of the government’s agriculture food systems transformation strategy aimed at enhancing the agriculture economy to USD8.2 billion by 2025. The strategy came at an opportune time when livestock and production of related products has been suboptimal. To put this into perspective, dairy small-scale farmers produce less than 200l per day.