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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Reporter

GOVERNMENT has begun rolling out provincial launches for the Presidential Rural Poultry Scheme whose ultimate objective is to have the country’s annual chicken production leaping to 450 million with an estimated value of US$2,7 billion by 2025.

The model envisages both centralised and decentralised procurement of chickens with the decentralised procurement set to spur rural entrepreneurship in line with the rural development agenda.

Livestock remains a pivotal sub-sector within the agricultural industry and a key income generating enterprise for the farmer. The project is part of Government’s broader vision of creating a US$8,5 billion agricultural industry by 2025 which dovetails with the Second Republic’s signature vision of having an upper-middle income economy by 2030.

In Matabeleland South the launch will be held in Bulilima district on Wednesday with Binga district being the venue for the Matabeleland North launch on October 5 and a week later the programme will be launched in Bulawayo.

The project, targeting three million households of mainly vulnerable groups including women and youths headed families, comes with vaccination of the birds by the Department of Veterinary Services to mitigate against diseases.

Under National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), the country has set out a comprehensive roadmap anchored on revitalising the agriculture sector for the period running up to the year 2030 in which Zimbabwe expects to realise an upper middle-income status.

The interventions are meant to help increase the country’s food self-sufficiency from 45 percent to 100 percent, thereby reducing reliance on imports as Government seeks to make Zimbabwe the breadbasket for Africa again. Zimbabwe is positioned to beat the US$8,2 billion agriculture economy by 2025 following the launch of the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy by President Emmerson Mnangagwa last year.