Zambia’s total goat population stands at 3,476,790, the latest Livestock and Aquaculture Census has shown.
The census was conducted in 2017 by the Central Statistical Office in collaboration with the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock.
The results mean that Zambia’s entire goat population would be wiped out if the country is to go ahead with the goat export deal with Saudi Arabia of a million goats per year.
Saudi Arabia is said to want to import a further 1 million sheep from Zambia.
Livestock and Fisheries Minister Kampamba Mulenga told ZANIS that the Zambian government is waiting for a delegation from Saudi Arabia to arrive and conclude the export deal with Zambia.
This follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in 2016 after President Edgar Lungu undertook a state visit to Saudi Arabia.
But the figures released by the Central Statistics Office show that the livestock export deal to Saudi Arabia could be a non-starter.
The The Goat population as at census date was 3,476,790 of which Southern Province accounted for the highest population (1,233,435) at 35.5 percent of the total national goats stock, followed by Central province( 585,277) at 16.8 percent.
Western Province accounted for the lowest percentage of goats’ population at 1.9 percent of the total national stock.
Southern is still leading in Cattle, Goat, Sheep population while Eastern Province lead in Pigs in Zambia.
The Cattle population (both Household and Establishment) as at census date was 3,654,668, of which Southern Province accounted for the highest percentage (1,293,715), at 35.4 percent of the total national stock.
Seconded by Central Province with 826,322.
Luapula Province accounted for the lowest percentage (12,359) of cattle population at 0.3 percent of the total national stock.
The Sheep population as at census date was 165,243 of which Southern Province accounted for the highest population (57,855) at 35 percent of the total national Sheep stock.
Western Province accounted for the lowest percentage of Sheep population at 0.1 percent of the total national stock.
The further more the population of Pigs as at Census date was at 996,390 and Eastern province recorded the highest of this national pig population( 282,140 ) at 28.3 percent.
Southern and Copperbelt provinces accounted for 16.8 percent and 10.5 percent respectively.
The province that recorded the lowest pig population was Luapula province at 1.9 percent of the total national stock.
The purpose of the 2017 Livestock and Aquaculture Census was mainly to provide comprehensive livestock, fisheries and honey production statistics so as to better estimate the contribution of these sectors to the economy.
Muchopo will become very expensive if this deal goes ahead!
Our government is very bad at planning.
How do you commit to sell goats when we do not even have enough in the country?
Next, Zambia will start importing cloned goats from China, while selling our very own bred goats to Saudi Arabia.
The incompetence of this government is unprecedented.
Now they say they are waiting for a delegation from Saudi Arabia (another rogue country).
VP is in Turkey (another rogue country) doing God knows what.
THAT POPULATION OF EATABLE ANIMALS IS NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT. HALT THE EXPORT DEAL.
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I think we do not have serious livestock farmers in the country. Are those numbers for peasant farmers or they include commercial chaps? Man, those numbers are pathetic. Let me venture into that business as well. I think there is too much potential in that sector.
Come on guys, this simply means we have to go commercial since we do have enough inventory to breed from. Double down on breeding methodologies such as artificial insemination.
For instance, as of January 1, 2018, the USDA reported that they were 94.4 million heads of cattle in the US but the annual consumption is roughly 48.2 million. At that rate using the rationale on this blog, the US would run out of cattle stocks in 2 years.
That ain’t gonna happen!!! Why??? Because of breeding methodologies; naturally one bull can make 70 cows pregnant per year and yet that’s not enough for sustainability and you double down using artificial insemination.
I was in Spain 3 months ago in a Muslim dominated city and just one hind leg for a goat was selling for €240 at a local supermarket…
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I was in Spain 3 months ago in a Muslim dominated city and just one hind leg for a goat was selling for €240 at a local supermarket (that’s roughly ZMK2,980 per leg at retail) Every goat has 2 of those, not mentioning the front 2 and the of the meat in between.
Huge business in waiting, time to take advantage of advantages somebody.
Let’s roll! They will multiply and we produce some on Animal Farm. Does Animo farm only produce dung machines only?
so the same people that Sunday Chanda despises so much, the Tongas of Southern Province have the most goats ( and the most cattle), I m sure they have the most sheep and chickens as well.
Mulenga kampamba didn’t know all this? And what has the government done to increase the goat population since that presidential visit …
Getting into business deals without relevant data is dangerous! Here is the glaring disconnect between politicians and technocrats where the former think theirs is to make the latter make putting the cart before the horse workable!
The other issue as well is the logistics …it seems our ministers still think only about exporting raw material or produce instead of value addition;I mean why not consult the Saudis or the Islamic community of Zambia of the best practice of prepping these meats for export in relation to Halal principles that way you are not only putting your eggs in one basket but opening up to other markets in the middle-east, far east and Europe…this is where IDC can come in setting up an abattoir for processing Halal meat for export…even go further by marketing it as natural grass fed goats.
yaba EASTERN LEADS IN PIGS YABA MY RIBS MAYBE BECAUSE TOO MANY MOSLEMS AS THEY DONT EAT PIGS , YABA EATERNERS PIG MEN
Iwe, zipase ulemi ayi?
Luapula province had to be the lowest in everything despite boasting the best water resources and pasture. What is this province good at kansi? overfishing????
@Peter … No, that’s not true. Yes, Liverpool (Luapula) has lowest livestock in the nation due to tsetse fly infections but it has the highest IQ individuals per capita.
It takes a higher level of creativity to catch fish and that’s why for the longest, Liverpool has been the fishing capital of the nation – it’s has 90% of all fresh water fish species known to man.
Remember, the smart people of the Zambian Enterprise hold 10% of total water reserves on the continent but 70% of those water bodies are in Liverpool.
So, naturally, the Luapulans have in the past focused on their fishing enterprises as the largest source of revenue but also until LPM commissioned the Levy Mwanawasa Bridge across pedicle, Liverpool was a closed off province to the rest of the country but its an…
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So, naturally, the Luapulans have in the past focused on their fishing enterprises as the largest source of revenue but also until LPM commissioned the Levy Mwanawasa Bridge across pedicle, Liverpool was a closed off province to the rest of the country but its an extension of the Copperbelt and Katanga Provinces with huge untapped mineral reserves.
It’s rich in copper, uranium, cobalt, zinc, iron, gold, titanium, platinum, natural gas, oil and above all magnesium. With an exception of the latter used for the establishment of Mansa Batteries back in my UNIP days all the other minerals are yet to be exploited.
Furthermore, with the exception of NW its the only other province with the highest rainfall in the country thus the abundant water reserves from Bangweulu to…
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Furthermore, with the exception of NW its the only other province with the highest rainfall in the country thus the abundant water reserves from Bangweulu to Mweru to Mweru Wantipa, to Kasaba Bay to parts of Tanganyika not to mention 7 distinct waterfalls more spectacular thank the famous Mosi-O-Tunya.
Lastly, it’s most beautiful province in the nation with a semi-Mediterranean climate thus, you can grow just anything there, from the valley to the mountains it’s all systems go. It’s has always been food sufficient even when hunger looms in other provinces.
It has untapped tourism potential from the Everglades in Bangweulu with the only remaining black and red lechwe population in the world to the California like sandy beaches of Chiengi on the Mweru, the list is…
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It has untapped tourism potential from the Everglades in Bangweulu with the only remaining black and red lechwe population in the world to the California like sandy beaches of Chiengi on the Mweru, the list is endless.
Kwesu kwali wamisho kutulye iminofu ya mbowa ~ P K Chishala
Ala soseni bawesu. Kwesu ni ku Luapula ntondo
Witchcraft
I told that mulenga woman who is livestock minister does not even know how many livestock there is in Zambia…..absolutly shamefully
What development can these du.ll mangwams deliver ?
Where is yambayamba who was singing praise yesterday when some of us were sceptical
@Spaka…., I am right here. What is your question? I will try to answer it for you if I know the answer.
Tell me where I was wrong yesterday and why you think so. Let us start from there at least so we can have an intelligent conversation and not just waste each other’s time.
Now, @Spaka…, if you want me to say something about these census numbers, I will. Look, people who are BUSINESS MINDED look for deficiencies or deficits in a particular market and work to fill the gap and make a killing in the process. Surely you don’t want to get into an already saturated business or MARKET. And that was the gist of my statements on another thread yesterday.
So if the current census numbers of sheep and goats fall short of what is required to satisfy the local market and soon to be expanded Market to Saudi Arabia, that should signal OPPORTUNITY and not DESPIRE to young Zambian ENTERPRENUERS to start asking questions how they can get into the game. Start asking how to raise goats and sheep so you can take full advantage of this promising Saudi Market.
But one…
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thing you can be very sure of, if this deal goes through and us Zambians just sit by our keyboards and moan about it, watch how commercial farmers from places like S.A, Zim, China, extra, will flood Zambia and setup shop to exploit this golden opportunity. Why? Because the market will be readily available for them. Which any serious farmer/ENTERPRENUER wants and will “kill” for. All thanks to the hard work of our own Govt….but we are too Political to see it!
And this is what most of us indigenous Zambians have a hard time wrapping our minds around. We cry day and night that GOVT SHOULD CREATE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES AND AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR YOUNG ENTERPRENUERS TO COME ON BOARD AND THRIVE. Yet when the same Govt does just that, we do not seem to notice…
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Predictably, we simply revert back to our favorite Zambian pass time; complaining and asking wrong questions.
Tomorrow, the Govt may negotiate (yes, I use the word NEGOTIATE since some of you have problems even with that) a Soybean export deal with China given the tariffs war going on with the U.S, and guess what? we will be here again asking wrong questions. Instead of asking where we can buy land to the commodity, we will asking whether the Minister has any idea how many commercial farmers we have….why we can’t dream to turn ourselves into commercial farmers and grow Soybeans for the Chinese Market is beyond me. Or instead of asking how Govt can assist us acquire cheaper loans so we can start raising Soybeans to satisfy the just opened up Chinese Market, we will be…
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Predictably, we simply revert back to our favorite Zambian pass time; complaining and asking wrong questions.
Tomorrow, the Govt may negotiate (yes, I use the word NEGOTIATE since some of you have problems even with that) a Soybean export deal with China given the tariff wars going on with the U.S, and guess what? we will be here again asking wrong questions. Instead of asking where we can buy land to the commodity, we will asking whether the Minister has any idea how many commercial farmers we have….why we can’t dream to turn ourselves into commercial farmers and grow Soybeans for the Chinese Market is beyond me. Or instead of asking how Govt can assist us acquire cheaper loans so we can start raising Soybeans to satisfy the just opened up Chinese Market, we will be…
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back here busy asking how growing Soybeans for export to China creates jobs in Zambia.
Now, tell me if this is the kind of stuff TOP NOTCH YOUNG ENTERPRENUERS around the world are made of?
PERSIMISM for breakfast….PERSIMISM for lunch….and PERSIMISM for dinner. Go figure!
Ba Yambayamba … endita ehh mukwai. Furthermore, it is really laughable that a guy like Gay Gay here has no clue on how to write a bankable business proposal so he can walk into Barclays Bank Plc, London and talk to an investment bank about a project back home for funding.
As an economic refugee all he does is denigrating his home country 6 time the size of Britain with resources 100 times that are unexploited worth trillions of dollars.
Just one electric car uses 6 kilometers of copper wire and the owners of Africa’s largest producer are nothing but cretins running their mouths wanting to sound smart when everyone knows they are low IQ nincompoops.
Really laughable ~ Gay Gay
Yamba
I agree with you on your main points , what I am pointing at is the calibre of our ministers , they seem allergic to figures.
Is it a PF mentality to be ignorant of numbers or is it a PF trait to hide the numbers involved ? All the time we have these PF minister giving announcements of upcoming incentives but they seem ignorant about any figures involved.
There is no serious bussiness person who would go into bussiness with out knowing the numbers involved.
As I have been saying , most times pf are selling them selves short and are drawing fire to them selves by not giving any numbers….
@Spaka…., I get where you are coming from. True, numbers are important in business. But let us not misconstrued the Minister’s brief recup on the MoU signed a year or so between the two Countries. This was not a business report she was giving out where details to that level may be necessary.
As you can see, these census numbers are from the CSO and we’re done in 2017. So the Minister may not have had such details readily available to her at the time she gave that statement….mind you, that was just a statement and NOT a report. Sometimes, as Cabinet Minister, it is prudent to state issues/matters in broad terms and leave granular details to appropriate technocrats or departments. Which is what the CSO has done here following her statement. So I see no wrong doing or carelessness…
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on the Minister’s part.
OPPORTUNITY beacons, so let us all run for it and help change Zambia into a Country we can all be proud of. Instead of getting ourselves caught up in irrelevant sideshows, let us start asking and demanding things from this Govt that can help us take advantage of such opportunities. Especially on financing issues.
Where is yambayamba who was singing praise yesterday when some of us were sceptical , we are after all still waiting for the k5/l fuel, solar farms and dams from Saudi funding…..
You are lying. How can the whole of Luapula Province have 12,000 cattle?
How will 3.5 million Goats be wiped out if 1 million are exported annually? that`s the shallow stupid thinking we need to start running away from, lets say for the sake of the dumb-witted that 3.5 million consists of 2 million female goats and 1.5 males, the females will reproduce and hence the following year all things equal we`ll have 5.5 million goats bear in mind that goats reproduce at least twice in a year (3 times in 2 years to be precise) that figure will be sustained and hence the export program will still have a lot of life and potential. please educate the authors of this shallow uninformative piece of poor journalism. Always trying to pour cold water of progressive ideas
What of for other exports , to DRC say , what of for local consumption ?
That figure is redicolusly low to export 1 million pa to Saudi and at the same time cater for on going commitments
They would get wiped out in less than two years.
We do not have enough goats.
We need specialist goat farming to sustain such contracts.
So according to your math we will have gained 2 million goats in a year. if we are to do a reverse calculation that would mean for us to have 3.5 million goats today we should have had our first goats very recently. but your grandfather found goats in this part of the world. so pangako ma assumptions ya nzelu. Thats too ideal.
@Dildo, that is the simplistic kind of thinking that has landed this country in problems! Yes on paper it may sound so but in reality, it doesn’t happen that way! You forgot to factor in local consumption, Exports to other countries other than Saudi Arabia and most important, livestock thefts that would arise because of this demand created! Thus, the breeding stock increase is not linear as you would want and the devil is in the details! This is the problem when the one who signs such ridiculous deals does not even own a d.og to talk about and for the love of kickbacks they want to do a Muzungu Anikonde to decimate our local stock? This is madness!
This is a good example of why Government should stay out of business.
Private sector should be taking the lead on such deals.
These pipo can even sell non existent goats to the saudis. All they want is their money.
Eastern and Southern province, still Zambia’s bread baskets I see.
That is a wrong figure.. you forgot to add lungu and the PF to that number of goats in zambia
You can not count lions in a game park but you can count all goats in Zambia…really laughable
The census is dubious as this government does not have the means to do this.
The figures given are wild unfounded estimates, probably arrived at using a random generator algorithm.
Even reassuring that the Ministry is overseen by the tin Kampamba Mulenga!!
There are species of goats which multiply very fast. This discussion of numbers is not serving any purpose. Saudi has offered a market and what is our response: not enough goats! My. foot! When will we wake up from slumber?
Exporting raw materials is not the best we should continue doing! Value addition is the best way! Yes, market is found, but no logical plan in place! Sustainability is what has not been addressed! It’s not about selling just because we have! Trying to Export a million goats per year when you only have 3.5million is reckless because you have not included other markets, mortalities, local consumption, thefts arising from the black market created, e.t.c. The net effect is you may end up exporting the entire 3.5 million the two years and that’s where sustainability suffers! What we should be hearing is what program and plan government has put together to promote goat production over how many years, what Vet services are in place. Trouble is PF is stuck with the 90 days mindset that is why…
Trouble is PF is stuck with the 90 days mindset that is why programs end in disasters! We must embrace long-term thinking and Sustainability. The healthy number to entertain should be a tenth or 10% of annual count! That gives a healthy growth rate and accounting for all consumption, that is sustainable to avoid “overfishing” of goats! Thus the a one million goats export can be supported comfortably by an annual count of around 10 million! We have to revise the number of goats to export downwards if this thing is to be sustainable. Why the hurry to export now? We should not find ourselves having to import goats from Saudi Arabia 5 to 10 years from now! Umulembwe wachipuba bupwila muli Tumfweko!
Muzungu akukonde….
That is what we are saying , pleas pf give people numbers if not just keep silent…..
I had a question if we had capacity to export and some one wasn’t happy with me.The truth is that we don’t have a lot of commercial farmers because goat are not treasured. There are opportunities in this industry, so whoever wants to invest in free.Currently,it is on the paper.
PF is stuck with the 90 days mindset that is why programs end in disasters! We must embrace long-term thinking and Sustainability. Go to Botswana and find out how Botswana Meat Corporation (BMC) is doing things! The healthy number to entertain should be a tenth or 10% of annual count! That gives a healthy growth rate and accounting for all consumption, that is sustainable to avoid “overfishing” of goats! We have to revise the number of goats to export downwards if this thing is to be sustainable. Why the hurry to export now? We should not find ourselves having to import goats from Saudi Arabia 5 to 10 years from now! Umulembwe wachipuba bupwila muli Tumfweko!
Umulembwe Wachipuba bupwila muli Tumfweko! I see Zambia importing Goats soon!
Its a never loose opportunity, when Market allows you beef up on breeding them.
Its a never lose opportunity, when Market allows you beef up on breeding them.
I am quitting my job and become a goat farmer!
Goats will start disappearing like Mukula trees at this rate of reckless export! I foresee goats becoming a rare sight in Zambia! God made man. Man made money. And the love of money has made Pafwaka Party mad!
Umulembwe wachipuba bupwila muli Tumfweko! Ichipuba ni Zed. The Saudis are saying Tumfweko ama goats!
To a wise people, this is a good opportunity for Forex generation! Putting in place a Sustainable plan and consultation with all stakeholders is the way to go! Leaving this idea with PF chaps, some of whom have never owned not even a d.o.g, will be disastrous!
Makuli don’t get too excited with these PF proclamations, we heard about this deal two years ago up to now not much has changed. This thing looks to good to be true and it may since we don’t have much details about it. I would rather risk my life and go to Iraqi and catch those goats roaming the streets which is a stone throw away from Saudi
Aah, I wondered why President Erdogan was taking an interest in Zambia all off a sudden.