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Harare  — The Pig Industry Board is setting up an artificial insemination centre to provide semen to farmers as part of efforts to boost the national herd, which had declined over the years when the country experienced economic meltdown, an official said on Friday. Pig Industry Board (PIB) director Andrew Shonhiwa told New Ziana the artificial insemination centre was being built with funds that the government provided under the Public Sector Investment Programme.
“When complete, the centre will avail semen to many farmers thereby assisting in increasing the national pig herd,” he said.

Shoniwa said the poor performance of the economy in the first quarter of this year negatively affected the pig industry as producer prices were low.
“Pig farmers faced viability challenges in the first quarter. With the improvement in the producer prices in the second quarter the situation has improved,” he said.
He said while prices of stock feed had remained stable, they were likely to change following the recent increase in the producer price of maize.

“It is important to note that stock feed manufacturers have imported maize in the past and this has landed in Zimbabwe at prices that were slightly higher than the $390 per tonne that was gezetted,” he said.

Shoniwa said the industry was trying to secure export markets but was facing stiff competition from the region due to high costs of production locally.
“Our competitors in the region have access to cheap maize and soyabean meal hence it becomes difficult to compete with them,” he said.

Maize and soyabean meal make up nearly 95 percent of the cost of stock feed.
So far, at least 69,356 pigs have been slaughtered in registered abattoirs throughout the country compared to 73,135 that were slaughtered during the same period in 2013. — New Ziana