Zambia ready for Saudi goat orders – minister  

Sat, 03 Jun 2017 12:34:41 +0000

By AARON CHIYANZO

ZAMBIA is capable of meeting the 1 million goats per annum supply requested by Saudi Arabia as the country has more than 4 million healthy goats, says Minister of Fisheries and Livestock Michael Katambo.

And Mr Katambo said that a delegation from Saudi Arabia would soon be in Zambia to assess the quality of goats in the country and seal the deal if they would be satisfied.

He said he was certain that the officials would be satisfied with the quality of Zambian goats because Government had put in several interventions to improve goat rearing and breeding in the country.

Mr Katambo said that his ministry had set up a goats and sheep task team to coordinate all interventions to ensure that local goats met the required Saudi standards.

He pointed out that cross breeding with the boar goats had been intensified across the country to improve good breeds.

Mr Katambo said that the task force had developed a workable road map for the commercialization of goats and sheep in the country.

“The team has worked out modalities for business investment in goats and sheep value chain in Zambia. The team has been doing assessment of goats and sheep production, inventory and management systems,” he said.

Mr Katambo said that following an assessment on whether Zambia was capable of supplying the required quantity and quality of goats, he expressed confidence that the country was ready to export.

He explained that Zambia had a goat population of over 4 million and that Saudi Arabia had only requested to be supplied 1 million goats per year.

Mr Katambo expressed confidence that the current goat breeds in the country would impress the delegation from Saudi Arabia. He said that numerous livestock breeding centres had opened up across the country following the Saudi Arabia goat supply request.

Mr Katambo urged livestock farmers to buy the boar goat and cross breed it with indigenous goats in order to produce big and healthy animals.

He assured that the ministry would continue providing advisory services and other incentives to livestock farmers to improve breeds.