cold storage misuses a received boost from goverment

THE beef processing firm owns five abattoirs in Chinhoyi, Bulawayo, Masvingo, Marondera and Kadoma. A canning plant whose production is mainly for export operates from Bulawayo. The Bulawayo, Chinhoyi, Marondera and Masvingo abattoirs and the canning plant have been approved by the EU. CSC owns seven ranches and feedlots which are strategically positioned in the cattle producing areas of the country.

 The company’s strategy was to procure heifers and exchange them for slaughter stock with farmers. This was expected to bolster the growth of the national herd by accelerating the calving rate.

CSC has been facing difficulties in the past decade caused by among other factors, the depletion of the national herd and the emergence of vibrant private abattoirs since the liberalisation of the sector about a decade ago.Hence government has provided a US$1 million grant to the struggling meat processor, the Cold Storage Company Limited (CSC) for rebuilding the depleted national herd, official records showed this week, indicating that the programme has been ongoing since 2011. The grant was also expected to address throughput shortcomings in the short to long-term

 The viability of the company also suffered a major setback when the European Union (EU) suspended beef imports from Zimbabwe in 2001 following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

To improve its product offering, the Zimbabwe-Botswana joint disease control programme along the common border of the two countries, coupled with the commercial agreement with Botswana Meat Commission, started a programme where Zimbabwe would import 29 306 head of cattle from Botswana for direct slaughter. CSC said this arrangement only improved capacity at its Harare and Bulawayo operations. 

The Zimbabwe-Botswana cattle deal, however, later collapsed when CSC reportedly misappropriated the funds and ended up failing to pay the Botswana Meat Commission. Recently media in Botswana reported that the exportation of cattle to Zimbabwe had stalled because Zimbabwe still owed Botswana Meat Commission one million Pula. It has also been reported that Zimbabwe was reviewing its live cattle importation policy.