Source: Goromonzi South embraces rabbit farming | The Herald
Ivan Zhakata Herald Correspondent
THE Goromonzi South community has heeded the call of their local chief to embrace rabbit farming to empower themselves and develop their community.
This comes after Chief Rusike, born Aaron Muchenje Mashave urged his community to embrace rabbit farming and contribute to the first-ever rabbit abattoir in Harare
Ms Last Pfumisi said as women they want to commercialise rabbit farming so that they contribute towards the development of their community and the country at large.
“We want to have as many rabbits as we can so that we can make more money and transform our community. Rabbits are easy to keep and maintain and I foresee Goromonzi South becoming a hub for rabbit farming,” she said.
Mr Dickson Marange echoed the same sentiments and said the only challenge they might face was a lack of space to keep the rabbits.
“We welcome rabbit farming in this community because we have been taught about rabbits and we have seen that they are easy to keep and the market is readily available. We have also been told that rabbits multiply faster than cows and goats which is a plus for us so we look forward to keeping more rabbits than those we have at the moment,” he said.
Chief Rusike encouraged his community to embrace rabbit farming saying it was a life-changing initiative that can transform his community.
He said many people will prosper as the market for rabbits was readily available and they can also make use of the rabbit abattoir in Waterfalls, Harare.
“Rabbit meat can also be sold in butcheries so I think this a very good project which can transform our community,” he said.
“I think we are going to register a good number of rabbits in our community and a lot of people will flourish. We will also see a decline in the numbers of domestic violence as people will make ends meet through rabbit farming.
“I encourage the people to make full use of the abattoir as it is currently underutilized with a few rabbits being taken there. Rabbits are very easy to keep and this rabbit project is a vital project in my community.”
Zanu PF Goromonzi South secretary for indigenization and economic empowerment Mr James Samhembere encouraged people to embrace rabbit farming.
Mr Samhembere said women and youths should not be spared from rabbit farming so that they desist from the dependency syndrome but work towards transforming their livelihoods.
“I am encouraging them that with the little that they have, even if they are doing manual work to raise money, we will be giving them the guidance on how to start and grow their own businesses,” he said.
“Rabbit farming does not take too much space. We are not only looking at meat but you will be producing fertilizer for their other vegetable garden projects. They can use the manure from the rabbits, rabbit urine as a fertilizer and a pesticide.
Mr Samhembere encouraged rabbit farmers to keep more rabbits and contribute to the neat supply chain of the country.
