Shortage of feed affects pork products in Zimbabwe
ZIMBABWE - Zimbabwe might soon experience a shortage of pork products because of a critical lack of stock feed, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported on Monday.Paul Ndiweni, director of the Pig Industry Board (PIB), was quoted as saying that "The shortage is going to affect viability of the industry and our excellent market."
He said farmers were now resorting to non-conventional foods to sustain the porkers.
The PIB boss said maize shortages in the country had resulted in reduced feed production by manufactures and called on stakeholders to come up with stop gap measures to avert a pork shortage on the market.
Maize constitutes 70 percent of stock feed for pigs with soya bean weighing in at 25 percent.
The high demand for maize has forced the government to prioritize the milling of the staple maize meal for humans ahead of stock feed.
Zimbabwe's annual grain requirement stands at 1.8 million tons and has been forced to import maize from South Africa to boost its strategic reserves.
Last year alone, the government channeled at least 300 million U.S. dollars towards grain imports. Maize production has been affected by recurrent droughts in the past five years.
Source: People's Daily Online
20 March 2006
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