• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Competition

Mike

Well-known member
Meat news:

"Zimbabwe expects to export at least 5,000 metric tons of beef to Hong Kong in early 2007, according to Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA). Australia is the largest supplier of beef to most countries in Asia, including Hong Kong. Australia’s beef industry closely monitors potential competitors. MLA said the deal between Zimbabwe and Hong Kong follows intense negotiations. The deal represents the re-entry of Zimbabwean beef to the export market, after meat from the southern African country was banned from Europe because of foot and mouth disease concerns. Prior to the ban, Zimbabwe shipped approximately 9,000 metric tons of beef to Europe."

Yet our NCBA leadership doesn't see competition as a factor in the U.S. Beef Industry"?
 

andybob

Well-known member
With most of the commercial beef herd devistated as a result of the takeover of commercial farms in 2000, I am not sure where this beef is coming from. I will try to find some statistics as to the number of commercial cattle left, but 60%-70% of the breeding stock was slaughtered by the farm invaders in 2000 and non of these farms are now producing. At present Zimbabwe is still not able to produce enough food of any kind for the population, and will be recieving aid for 25% of the population for the sixth successive year.
 

Bill

Well-known member
andybob said:
With most of the commercial beef herd devistated as a result of the takeover of commercial farms in 2000, I am not sure where this beef is coming from. I will try to find some statistics as to the number of commercial cattle left, but 60%-70% of the breeding stock was slaughtered by the farm invaders in 2000 and non of these farms are now producing. At present Zimbabwe is still not able to produce enough food of any kind for the population, and will be recieving aid for 25% of the population for the sixth successive year.

Holidays are now over so it must be time to twist a story and start banging on the NCBA drum again? :roll:

Thanks for adding some facts to this andybob. What has happened to the food supply in many African countries is tragic. I knew a Zimbabwean couple who were attacked on numerous occasions and the husband was eventually killed by attackers. Not much left now of what was an outstanding operation.
 

Maple Leaf Angus

Well-known member
andybob - thank you for the fascinating bits of info about your African experience that you put on here.

I find the story of the Rhodesian/Zimbabwe situation simply riveting. I guess it started when I read a few novels by Wilbur Smith. I don't know if you have ever read any of his stuff,and I don't know how accurate it is.

However, if it bears any resemblace to the truth, the reality must have been, or still is, beyond our imagination.

Smith wrote of the political/economic/cultural upheaval that followed de-colonialization, and his descriptions of the scenery were alternately beautiful and horrific.

I would be enthralled to hear more of your experience if you would care to share it.
 

andybob

Well-known member
Maple leaf, Wilbur Smith was born in a small town in Northern Rhodesia,now Zambia. While naturaly dramatise, his books are based on actual events and his descriptions of the landscape and wildlife of the Southern bushveld are accurate.
I would be pleased to discuss any subject pertaining to agriculture and wildlife on this forum, anything political and historic are probably better taken to another venue, you can PM me concerning the type of information you would like.
 

andybob

Well-known member
By Blessing Zulu


Washington - Another feud has developed within the Zimbabwean government's top ranks over an order by President Robert Mugabe to his ministers to restore a slaughterhouse in the Mashonaland East province town of Marondera that has lain idle for seven years. Mugabe ordered Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa and Agriculture Minister Joseph Made to revive the abattoir, a facility of the state-controlled Cold Storage Company, but the move is opposed by officials of the ruling Zanu PF party in Mashonaland West and Bulawayo provinces which benefited from the plant's shutdown. Murerwa reportedly has raised only Z$10 million of the $2 billion required to put the abattoir back on an operating basis. Party insiders say the facility is not viable given the near-collapse of the beef sector and stiff competition from private abattoirs. Cold Storage Company CEO Ngoni Chinogaramombe said the firm used to earn more than US$50 million annually from beef exports to the European Union. But Zimbabwe has been struggling to meet its EU export quota of 91,000 tonnes. Zimbabwe's export-quality herd stood at about 1.6 million cattle in 2000, but experts say that since then it has declined in size by more than 70%.


Those opposed to the investment said Mr. Mugabe is trying to appease one of the Zanu PF provinces that failed to line up behind a proposal to give him an extra two years in in office. Eight out of 10 Zanu PF provinces - Mashonaland East and Harare were the exceptions - backed putting off the 2008 presidential elections until 2010. Mashonaland East Governor Ray Kaukonde and Marondera parliamentarian Sydney Sekerami, also the minister of defense, have appealed to Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, which has increased tensions between Gono and Murerwa. Marondera residents have not forgiven the ruling party for closing the abattoir, which was the town's only meaningful source of employment. Finance Ministry sources said Gono has batted the question back to Murerwa, saying that he is not inclined to help someone who only recently took him to task publicly for for printing money to keep the government and state enterprises running. But Agriculture Ministry Permanent Secretary Shadreck Mlambo told state media that the Cold Storage facility will indeed open next week as ordered by the president. The proposed restoration of the Marondera facility also has critics in the opposition. Ernest Mudzengi, director of the National Constitutional Assembly, told VOA that Mr. Mugabe’s directive was self-serving.
 
Top