The re-launch of Zimbabwe’s meat/leather industry will go from English and Dutch hands. The British company Boustead Beef, in fact, has announced its entry into the management of Cold Storage Company (CSC), a local company partially controlled by the State that, until about 20 years ago, was the largest national player in the sector and one of the largest in Africa. However, due to various difficulties, it closed its doors. Now its factories would be ready to start running again, thanks to an important investment by Boustead Beef, which will run the company for 25 years and, in addition to putting over a 100 million dollars out of its own pocket, should have substantial public support: 400 million dollars spread over 3 or 4 years. If, on the one hand, the re-opening forces to overhaul machinery (and, as explained by Boustead Beef’s general manager Nick Havercroft to a local radio, “replace all the tubes for the cold room”), on the other hand the commitment for the relaunch of the industry and its expansion also passes from the training of local farmers. According to online newspaper chronicle.co.zw, through PUM (voluntary organisation for sustainable development) the company would hire experts from Holland to teach the best breeding techniques to local producers. Isaiah Machingura, director of CSC Boustead Beef Zimbabwe, explained that experts “will assist us in the processing of leather in an integrated process with livestock farmers, including smaller ones”, to which will be illustrated “the best zootechnical techniques to produce good quality leather”. At the same time, the new management of the African subsidiary will also be working on the relaunch of Wetblue Industries, a tannery linked to the slaughtering company, which ended up in judicial trouble after the collapse of CSC.
On the left, in the image, picture from africametro.com
