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By Joyce Mukucha
Poultry farming has become one of the most important aspects of agriculture in Zimbabwe and beyond.
Poultry production is an important and diverse component since eggs and meat are part of health and diet for larger population all over the world.
The majority is venturing into this business for making money and others for self-sustainance but for Passion Poultry, a poultry equipment and manufacturing company, the story is different.
The local company focuses on manufacturing of innovative poultry equipment for small-scale farmers to make their work smarter, convenient and faster.
Through poultry production, the organisation is making strides in helping farmers around Zimbabwe to put innovation into practice, creating employment for young people, and empowering women with diversified skills.
In an interview, the Executive Director for Passion Poultry, Evangelista Chekera said through practical and interactive sessions, the organisation was striving to grow but at the same time uplifting the lives of various people in different communities.
“We are currently offering internship for a student from the Marketers Association of Zimbabwe. We are also getting into partnerships with a youth-owned start-up, Musika Solutions who are distributing our products across Zimbabwe.
“As part of creating employment for the youths, we are currently looking for and employing young people who can manage our social media pages and also those who can help us construct fowl runs for customers. Passion Poultry is also training women doing broilers on how to make their own briquettes for keeping their chicks warm and these women are indeed grateful for being extended with knowledge to cheap and affordable technologies that makes their poultry farming more sustainable, resilient, and productive,” said Chekera.
Pearl Mbazima , the Chief Executive Officer of an organisation that develops a savings culture, networks with other like minded women, receives training on Entrepreneurship, and gains access to loans for starting and expanding businesses, LaFemme Savings and Credit Cooperative (LASACCO) who also spoke to this publication said Passion Poultry has played an imperative role of equipping women with skills which enable them to smoothly run the poultry business.
She said women are key players in the development of any society, and that it is vital to strengthen their muscle in skills that they have some form of knowledge as she indicated that Passion Poultry was positively contributing to women empowerment.
“We run a savings and Credit cooperative for women in Small to Medium Enterprises called LASACCO. Passion Poultry has trained our ladies on how to rear, slaughter and process broiler chickens. They also give our members a discount when purchasing equipment from them. They offer us a round the clock consultancy service where our members consult them whenever they have a poultry related problem. On the whole we are very happy with our relationship with Passion Poultry and Eva herself,” she said.
The Chief Executive Officer for Musika Solutions, one of Passion Poultry’s distributors, Sydney Hlangabeza hailed Passion Poultry’s products and services highlighting that the company has grown to offer innovative and unique poultry products with some of the organisation’s products being the most viewed products on websites.
“In short l can say we’ve known Evangelista and Passion Poultry since 2017. We believe the market like Passion Poultry products for their uniqueness. And the improvements that come with the experience they have garnered over the years makes their products stand above their imitators. We’re delivering Passion Poultry products to most parts of the country every week and to us that’s an indication of a good product,” said Hlangabeza.
He also pointed out that Passion Poultry attracts more market because it manufactures products which does not lead to enviromental hazard and forest depletion.
“We’ve also come to notice that people buy Passion Poultry products that have a reduced impact on the environment. Adopting the use of briquettes made from timber and grass does not only saves energy, but also combats forest depletion and is environmentally-friendly.We’ve seen quite an increase in the demand for Passion Poultry briquettes from organisations that support the green revolution. Which l say this is a unique proposition for them.”
As part of its initiatives, Passion Poultry also has a new development for it now has a mobile poultry slaughter house and it is hugely benefitting the organisation because of its proximity to the chickens that are to be killed oftenly providing a welfare advantage in terms of eliminating the stress of (long-distance) transport.
Passion Poultry thrives to continue working with leading agricultural researchers, businesses in demonstrating and assisting farmers with new knowledge.