Construction of the first rabbit abattoir in Zimbabwe has been completed. Zimbabwe Commercial Rabbit Breeders Association (ZICORBA), the abattoirs’ owner said it is one of the biggest rabbit meat processing facilities in the Africa.
The abattoir, situated on a 2,5-acre plot in Waterfalls, Harare, was developed due to generated interest on the domestic and export rabbit market. It has installed capacity of between 2,5 tonnes and 3,5 tonnes of rabbit meat per day shift.
“Since construction of the abattoir was completed at the beginning of July, we received a flood of enquiries from potential local and external customers. The response from rabbit farmers has also been humbling. During our first week of operation, we bought nearly 1 000 live rabbits, mainly from Harare and its environs,” said Executive director, Mrs Paidamoyo Nyamakanga.
Scale of production in Zimbabwe,
“In readiness for the opening of the abattoir we signed trade agreements with some of Zimbabwe’s largest supermarket chains, namely Pick ‘n Pay and TM Supermarkets, Spar Zimbabwe and Choppies. Rabbit meat is currently available in these outlets. While we are encouraged by the response from the local market, we feel that the price of rabbit meat is still much higher than that of other competing white meats such as chicken, beef and fish. For us to effectively compete on the white meat sub-sector and entrench rabbit meat on the local market, we need to revisit the prices of rabbits and rabbit meat, lest the rabbit sector remains a backyard operation,” he added.
Depending on the scale of production in Zimbabwe, Raymeg Holdings would consider opening smaller abattoirs in other major centres in the country. The Raymeg boss said plans were afoot to open a multi-million-dollar retail outlet in Harare, which will serve as a hub for the supply of rabbit meat and rabbit products in the country.
[…] Source link […]
Comments are closed.