THE African Union’s InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) has begun engagements with the local finance and insurance sector to capacitate women-run livestock businesses with appropriate resources.
AU-IBAR is the specialised technical office of the department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (DARBE) of the AU Commission.
It is mandated by AU member states to support and coordinate the utilisation of livestock, fisheries, aquaculture, bee and wildlife resources for human wellbeing, socio-economic development and transformation in the African Union member states.
AU-IBAR through collaborative funding between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the AU Commission is implementing an emergency action of the “Resilient African Feeds and Fodder Systems, (RAFFS) project.
According to AU-AIBAR director, Huyam Salih the purpose of the project is to harness evidence-driven solutions for short-term interventions to enhance access to affordable and quality feed and fodder critical to ensuring sustainable production of animal-sourced foods.
Locally, the project is being implemented through the national chapter of the African Women in Animal Resources Farming and Agribusiness Network (AWARFA-Net).
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Zimbabwe was identified as one of the six core countries including Cameroon, Nigeria, Somalia, and Uganda.
“The last four years have proved very challenging with multiple global crises, particularly the triple-C crises: the climate change-related severe events, the Covid-19, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict that occurred in quick sequence and with compounding effects, highlighting vulnerabilities in Africa’s livestock systems,” Salih said.
“Livestock feeding constitutes 60-70 percent of the total cost of livestock production and Africa’s feed and fodder resources have been greatly affected by the global triple C crises.
“The massive loss of 9,5 million livestock, worth over US$2 billion, in the recent drought in the Greater Horn of Africa region resulted in the loss of invaluable livestock genetic resources, developed over decades and the key factor for livelihoods and incomes, especially for pastoralists and smallholders who produce over 80 percent of meat and milk in the region.
“There were also huge losses for downstream stakeholders and retailing businesses.”
“One of the result areas of the RAFFS Project is the empowerment of women in the feed and fodder and the livestock sourced foods value chains.
“The RAFFS Project is committed to implementing some of the activities with the (AWARFA-N) that was established in 2018, and subsequently had the Zimbabwe AWARFA-N chapter launched in 2021. The AWARFA-N Zimbabwe chapter is expected to be one of the most vibrant, organised and empowered chapters with visible achievements.”
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