ZIMBABWE – Zimbabwean pension authority, the National Social Security Authority (NSSA), has partnered with LMV Private Limited to launch a US$2 million livestock farming venture.

Dubbed Woodlands Farm, the state-owned authority owns 80% of the initiative with LMV, acting as a technical partner, controlling a 20% stake.

With assistance from the Zibagwe Rural District Council, NSSA has secured 600 hectares of land to house its state-of-the-art offices, goat paddocks, chicken houses, fowl runs, dip tanks, and an abattoir.

According to reports by Chronicles, the first phase will see the rearing of 600 goats and 7,000 chickens (both broilers and layers)

The project targets both domestic and export markets with its products, having already gotten interest from Angola and the United Arab Emirates.

Woodlands Farm marketing and sales manager, Mr. Rodney Lunga, revealed that for fish farming they are utilizing a disused pit left behind by illegal sand poachers and miners already in place, as rehabilitating those pits has turned out to be a long process.

The farm has already empowered the local community as it employs about 55 people and also contracts farmers from nearby communities.

Long-term plans, according to Mr. Lunga are that the farm will become a value addition center, producing its inputs, value adds them, conducting training as well as slaughtering its goats, and even venture into sausage production amongst other things.

The farm has also adopted the use of renewable energy from solar power, mainly for lighting purposes. If successful the project will be rolled out in other provinces.

Mineworkers Investment Company invests in Livestock Wealth

Meanwhile, in South Africa, Khulisani Ventures, the venture capital arm of the Mineworkers Investment Company (MIO), has issued R10 million to Livestock Wealth, a South African crowd-farming startup.

Founded in 2015 by electro-mechanical engineer Ntuthuko Shezi, Livestock Wealth provides financing specifically for livestock.

It facilitates the transfer of capital from investors to farmers in need of financing via the cattle investment medium.

The web and mobile investment platform, has guided tens of thousands of investors toward real, growing assets such as livestock, free-range oxen, organic garden tunnels, and macadamia trees.

By connecting its network of small-scale partner farmers to online investors, the business model allows farmers who cannot afford to scale their business to access capital, while offering the investor an opportunity to invest in these assets, which are not influenced by financial market trends.

CEO Shezi explains the partnership with MIC’s Khulisani Ventures will go a long way in empowering his company to meet its expansion goals, including broadening access to markets and leveraging new growth opportunities.

“Farming is one of the oldest pillars of generational wealth. We understand this at Livestock Wealth and created a platform to make investment in farming accessible to anyone, anywhere.

“MIC’s investment in our company will allow us to scale our technology offering and prepare for growth beyond South Africa,” he says.

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