Search Results for: Zimbabwean

THE ANCIENT Celts has a saying: “To the brave belong all things.” And in business, this remains true. Companies prepared to take big risks, can reap big spoils. But they can also stumble into disaster. Such calculations are always made when foreign companies consider trading or investing in so-called ‘failed states’ or those at risk of failure.…

An unprecedented spike in rhino poaching has not only threatened the existence of the charismatic species but also shone a spotlight on the highly organised criminal networks responsible. Wildlife crime is no longer seen as victimless or offering little reward but authorities are fighting back with some innovative tactics, reports Mark Rowe. …

The scale of Zimbabwe’s reforestation programmes needs to vastly increase if they are going to counter the decimation of the country’s forests by the tobacco industry, a leading agricultural expert has warned.
Harare-based agriculture consultant Charles Taffs believes that if the current rate of deforestation continues without significant intervention, in less than seven years the 80,000 small-scale tobacco producers who supply the industry will have no wood left to burn for the leaf curing process.…

The Zimbabwean government has been urged by a major domestic meat processor to take steps that will make local meat more price-competitive and attractive to external markets as it prepares to undertake a meat export drive.

Chief executive of Colcom, Theo Kumalo, argued that the government needed to address the problem of high stock feeds, which continue to inflate costs.…

The Zimbabwe government last week (Sept 11) announced a USD51.2million livestock support scheme in its mid-term policy review, with the goal of producing 400,000 tonnes of beef per annum by 2018, in line with the country’s economic blueprint, Zim Asset.

A key focus of the policy is to benefit 1.6 million household livestock farmers, who would, for example, be supplied with 500g of tick grease, 1 litre of de-wormer solution, and 500ml of wound medicine.…

SUB-SAHARAN African makers of cosmetics and personal care products are profiting from a growing and increasingly stable regional market, where economic growth is increasing demand for personal luxuries.

A report, ‘Business in Africa – Corporate Insights’ by Dianna Games, Standard Bank South Africa estimates that more than half of Africa’s population would be living in urban areas by 2030 and 60% by 2050, when the population would be about 2.4 billion, compared to 1 billion now.…

BY CLEMENCE MANYUKWE

Zimbabwe tobacco output is bouncing back after a decade of decline; but can the country sustain growth in the industry?

After nearly ten years of plummeting production due to controversial agrarian reforms by Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, the African country’s tobacco output has finally surpassed the 100 million-kilogram mark for the second year running.…

BY BILL CORCORAN

Mozambique’s fledgling tobacco leaf industry faces tough challenges

Mozambique’s young tobacco leaf industry is growing despite sometimes difficult climactic conditions. It mainly grows Burley – which is under pressure from World Health Organisation guidelines. And Zimbabwe competition is a potential complication.…

BY CLEMENCE MANYUKWE

"IMAGINE a country with no Coca Cola," a headline in Zimbabwe’s weekly independent newspaper the Financial Gazette asked its readers recently.

The article quoted from the Bible, Proverbs chapter 31 verse 7 that reads: "Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more", aptly summing up the drinking patterns in a nation where poverty is widespread due to a current world record inflation of 11.7 million % (and rising).…

BY BILL CORCORAN, at Lake Kariba, Zambia

THE SIGHT of thousands of decomposing semi-submerged trees protruding from its murky waters is an eerie clue to the traumatic origins of southern Africa’s Lake Kariba, a 200km long manmade reservoir wedged between Zimbabwe and Zambia.…