The poultry business had become so lucrative at the height of the country’s economic crisis that Air Zimbabwe and the Civil Aviation Authority decided to get into the business and fly out day-old chicks to earn forex.

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Government has pleaded with the European Union to intervene and help fund the ailing agriculture sector.

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According to the president of Zimbabwe Poultry Producers, Solomon Zawe, the demand of day-old chicks (DOC) is going up every day and the association has a production target of 100 million day-old chicks this year.

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Several villagers in Gutu, in southern Zimbabwe, have diversified from crop production to pig farming following poor harvests over the past few years due to perennial droughts.

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Senior minister in President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) has announced an end to the seizure of foreign-owned farms protected under the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.

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MORE than 16 000 suspects have been arrested this year for stocktheft and other related cases as police continue their crackdown on cattle rustlers.

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ZIMBABWE’S livestock mortality rate has gone down from 12% to 6% over the past year courtesy of a $3,7 cash injection by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) which made dipping chemicals readily available in all districts, a senior government official has said.

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CFI Holdings has commissioned some environmentally-controlled broiler houses at its Glenara Estates, which will see its breeding capacity increasing by 35 per cent.

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At least 1,240 cattle have died across the country due to persistent drought, as the government battles to provide adequate relief to affected farming communities.

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AIR Zimbabwe is suing the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe for over US$8,5 million for damages after its plane collided with wild pigs on the runway three years ago.

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Zimbabwe livestock farmers have warned of beef shortages owing to an increase in the number of cattle dying due to lack of pastures.

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Zimbabwe wheat production has fell by over 5000 hectares compared to last year as a result of governments' failure to avail the promised US$20 million input support scheme to farmers.

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Farmers in Zimbabwe will be able to buy cattle through monthly instalments under a scheme launched by the Cattle Ownership Trust to help boost livestock production.

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Big problems on the farm

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More than 100 delegates from nine African countries took part in a three-day Cobb technical school organised by Cobb Africa and run at Irvine’s Zimbabwe at Harare.

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Trade and Industry Minister Robert Sichinga has said the current annual investments for the poultry industry, stood at more than US$80 million, contributing 42 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

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The Chinese government on Thursday handed over 15,000 tons of wheat and rice to Zimbabwe's drought victims to alleviate hunger at the Grain Marketing Board Cleveland Depot in Harare.

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The Zimbabwe Poultry Association says it is targeting to produce 72 million day-old chicks this year, up from last 2011's 52 million, as more people now prefer local chickens as oppsed to imports.

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In the 32 years of his benighted rule, Zimbabwe's President Robert Gabriel Mugabe has done more damage to the country than its white-led minority government ever did.

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Beef and Poultry Association of Zimbabwe president, Mr Solomon Zawe, confirmed the decrease on Thursday.

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Zimbabwe's prime minister has been fined two cows, two sheep and 10 metres of white cloth for getting hitched during a culturally sacred time last month.

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In August Botswana engaged the cash-strapped CSC to assist it in slaughtering cattle infected with foot and mouth to curb the disease from spreading from zone V1 - along the border with Zimbabwe. The Botswana Meat Commission, which exports beef to the European Union, did not have the capacity to cull about 45 000 animals from the infected area within a certain period as per the strict requirements of the EU regulations.

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China may have provided Zimbabwe with food aid in the past but that gesture appears to have ignited its interest to help Zimbabwe enhance food security.

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China has donated food worth US$14 million to Zimbabwe to help people in districts affected by drought last farming season.

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The Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics Research Unit (VEERU) at Reading is working with local nurses and veterinary livestock technicians in Zimbabwe to educate farmers and their families about the dangers of brucellosis.

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All provinces in the country are to benefit from the cattle-branding programme by the end of July, Assistant Commissioner Bernard Dumbura has said.

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The Zimbabwean veterinary authorities have reported an outbreak of foot and mouth disease at Ingwizi Ranch in the province of Metabeleland South.

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AT the end of their productive lives, dairy cows have often been considered spent and therefore ideal candidates for culling.

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The Government has banned, with immediate effect, all imports of poultry and poultry products from South Africa following an outbreak of avian influenza (H5N2) in ostriches at five commercial farms in the Western Cape Province, reports The Herald of Zimbabwe.

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The Government has banned, with immediate effect, all imports of poultry and poultry products from South Africa following an outbreak of avian influenza (H5N2) in ostriches at five commercial farms in the Western Cape Province, reports The Herald of Zimbabwe.

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Harare, Zimbabwe - Authorities in Zimbabwe Friday banned cattle and beef imports from South Africa after the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the neighbouring country.

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Zimbabwe's Agricultural Development Bank (Agribank) has received $30 million in fresh credit from the regional Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa to fund agriculture and provide liquidity to the bankrupt bank. The fresh six-year US$30 million line of credit was extended at a signing ceremony in Harare Friday.

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Hubbard Zimbabwe has urged poultry farmers to ensure that their poultry feed comes from suppliers who are reputable in the industry.

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They turned up that dark evening, as they would for many more to come, when supper was over. Screaming 'out, out, out' and thumping drums, Mugabe's mob lit a noose of 50 fires around the farmhouse.

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Two years ago, Zimbabweans could not find a thing to buy on supermarket shelves - that is if they were lucky enough to have cash in their pocket.

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Years of drought and the violent eviction of white farmers pushed Zimbabwe's agricultural sector to collapse. But now one crop is bringing the sector back from the brink.

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Competition from cheap imports in the poultry divisions hit margins and squeezed volumes this year to September, CFI Holdings Ltd chairman, Simplisius Chihambakwe says.

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Hatchcon has built a new broiler hatchery for Mzuri Sana Chickens in Zimbabwe. The installation included seven used Petersime setters and six hatchers, together with a chiller.

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A renewed wave of intimidation and violence against the remaining white farmers in Zimbabwe can be attributed to Zanu-PF’s well-worn strategy of upping violence before an election, and to the greed of local politicians who, far from taking an agricultural interest in the farms they seize in great numbers, hope that the land will contain precious minerals, according to Zimbabwean farmers and union leaders.

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A ZIMBABWEAN politician has called on the government to establish a tomato canning factory in Murehwa, 75km outside the capital, Harare The Zimbabwean reported.

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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has resisted his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma's renewed diplomatic bid to save the troubled coalition government in Harare from further paralysis.

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“One of the biggest mistakes we made in Zimbabwe was not sticking together,” said Theron. “You don’t have to depart from your principles, but work together for what is right. Stick to what you believe in, don’t attack or break others down.”Theron said farmers in Zimbabwe were still in dark times, but they had learnt to “see in the dark” – and had found ways to negotiate with government to try and win some of their land back, or at least prevent more land grabs.“The way to get them to listen to you is by using the media to your advantage.

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Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, has defended government's decision in August to lift a ban on poultry imports imposed in March, saying the trade restriction had resulted in shortages and pushed up prices to unacceptable levels. The ban covered poultry and dairy products, meat, stock feeds and live animals, according to Newsday of Zimbabwe.

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Chicken imports have flooded the Zimbabwe market barely a month after an import ban was lifted creating a stock pile of more expensive locally produced chicken. Local chicken farmers have said the cheap imports are pushing them out of business. At the same time, consumers say they realistically cannot be expected to pay almost double just to support local farmers. When Government banned imports of animal products in March, chicken prices shot to between US$4 and US$5 per kg. Imports are now selling for roughly US$2 per kg.

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Zimbabwe imports about 3 000 tonnes of chickens per month worth about US$60 million. While local suppliers sufficiently produced for the domestic market previously, high production costs and stock feed shortages, among other impediments, have had a severe knock on output.

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A white commercial farmer and rancher in Mwenezi, Mr Brine Caywood, has unveiled a cattle-breeding project. He plans to use the project to donate more than one million artificial insemination doses from hybrid bulls to local communal farmers over the next 12 months, reports The Zimbabwe Herald .

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Poultry producers in Zimbabwe are heading for a showdown with banks as they battle to repay loans following the lifting of the Government ban on imports, reports The Herald of Zimbabwe.

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Local members and foreign delegates deemed Zimbabwe’s Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) Congress in August a success. At the Congress, deputy prime minister Thokosani Khupe endorsed a compensation and recovery proposal the CFU publicised earlier this year, but said little would be achieved under current governance. She asked for patience until after the next election, “when a new government can get down to proper democratic business”.

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Zimbabwe's poultry industry is not happy with government’s decision early this month to lift a ban on poultry imports wanted the trade restriction to stay in force until it recovers from a crisis that dragged production down, triggering an acute shortage of poultry and meat products, reports Newsday.

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Local members and foreign delegates deemed Zimbabwe’s Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) Congress in August a success.

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Zimbabwe has banned chickens and all poultry from South Africa, accusing it of supplying genetically modified poultry. South Africa quickly dismissed the claim that chickens from there were genetically modified, the local newspaper The Zimbabwe Guardian reported on Wednesday.

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The Zimbabwe government ordered an armed gang off three agricultural plantations in the east of the country, belonging to German national Heinrich von Pezold, after Germany threatened to withdraw aid to Zimbabwe.

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Zimbabwe’s poultry industry is on the brink of a shortage with the recent banning of dressed poultry imports. In an emotional and very public appeal, poultry producers sought to effect a protectionist ban on imports. They had panicked with growing meat stocks and offered a series of deceptions with which, some consider, the Zimbabwe Poultry Association (ZPA) had sullied itself taking issue with brining and genetically modified organisms (GMO), accusing importers of defrauding the Zimbabwean consumer.

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Zimbabwe’s poultry industry is on the brink of a shortage with the recent banning of dressed poultry imports. In an emotional and very public appeal, poultry producers sought to effect a protectionist ban on imports. They had panicked with growing meat stocks and offered a series of deceptions with which, some consider, the Zimbabwe Poultry Association (ZPA) had sullied itself taking issue with brining and genetically modified organisms (GMO), accusing importers of defrauding the Zimbabwean consumer.

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Zimbabwean police have arrested South African farmer Mike Odendaal on allegations of occupying his farm "illegally" despite his being armed with a court order allowing him to stay and saying invaders of his land are to be moved. The Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement signed between Zimbabwe and South Africa in 2009 did nothing to stop him losing his farm.

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Villagers in Chief Svosve area have turned to lucrative chilli farming to change their agriculture fortunes. (Pictured: A chilli farmer in Hwedza.) “Chilli growing is relatively cheaper than tobacco and maize farming. The crop requires easily accessible natural manure such as decaying vegetation. This lessons the burden of sourcing cash loans from banks and government to purchase expensive fertilizer,” said one of the villagers, Jeffrey Chekuona Chingosho.

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The Zimbabwean veterinary authorities have reported an outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in cattle. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) received an immediate notification on Friday, 11 June.

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The white-owned farms have reported a surge in violent attacks against them by President Robert Mugabe's loyal supporters within the past week, which saw at least 16 farming lands raided. Since Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe ordered white-owned farm owners to transfer majority of their land to blacks in 2008, violence among Caucasian farmers has soared. Similar legislation was approved in February whereby white-owned companies must transfer majority of shares to black Zimbabweans because it would benefit those racially discriminated.

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Zimbabwe will produce 10,000 metric tons of wheat this year, the smallest crop on record, forcing the country to rely on imports to meet food requirements, an agricultural association said. “Zimbabwe will have to import about 400,000 tons of wheat this year - the situation is desperately serious,” said Charles Taff, deputy president of the Commercial Farmers’ Union, by phone from Harare today. Before 2000, farmers in Zimbabwe produced as much as 300,000 tons of the grain a year, he said.

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A Zimbabwe farmers' union says at least 16 farmers have been attacked across the country by people trying to seize their land. Commercial Farmers Union leader Charles Taff said Wednesday that police have not responded to calls for help.

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