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Michael Magoronga, Midlands Correspondent
ABOUT 1 000 farmers have so far received road runner chicks countrywide in a project that targets to supply the foreign market with the natural chicken breed.

Mr George Hungwe said “We have a ready market in Europe hence we came up with a plan of supplying chicks to our farmers countrywide for rearing with the view of buying them when they mature for supply to the ready market,”

He said recently they have been failing to satisfy the European market. As such, egg incubators have been set up across the country with each farmer getting a minimum of 20 birds.

“We have incubators for supply of the chicks to the farmers. So far we have set up two in Matabeleland and one in Masvingo and Midlands. We are setting up more in other provinces in the near future,” he said.

The project is being spearheaded by small scale and subsistence farmers in conjunction with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement with the aim of boosting the road runner stocks in the country.

“We are also drilling boreholes for farmers where we need to ensure constant water supply. Before we give a farmer the chicks, we first check the environment whether it is conducive for the birds and also water supply. If there is no water we drill a borehole or simply repair the existing one if it is there,” said Hungwe.

The trust also has other projects like sugar beans. Mr Hungwe said the farmers will also benefit from tractors that are set to jet into the country before the kick-start of the summer farming season.