Private sector urged to partner govt in building veterinary colleges

Harare (New Ziana) –The private sector in Zimbabwe should partner the government in building more veterinary training colleges throughout the country to meet the high demand for the experts, an official has said.

In an interview with New Ziana on the side lines of the Zimbabwe Animal Health conference in the capital on Thursday, Mazowe Veterinary College principal Dr Nyamadzawo Donora said livestock producing provinces such as Matabeleland South require such facilities as a matter of urgency, as more disease outbreaks have been recorded in those areas over the past few years.

He said despite the country having agricultural colleges in each province, the same is not the case with veterinary training centres.

Dr Donoro also bemoaned the size of the Mazowe college, which he said is too small to accommodate large numbers of students.

He said the college was designed to cater for 50 students who undergo a three-year diploma course, but is enrolling up to 100 per intake.

Dr Donoro said about 600 extension workers from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development have applied for training in animal health services at the Mazowe college but they cannot all be accommodated.

Most of the officers were trained at agriculture colleges such as Gwebi, Kushinga Phikelela, Mulezu and others, which major in crop production.

“This is posing a great challenge for us, so we may run a block release programme for those who are employed, because they cannot be full time trainees as their services are also needed at their stations.

“But the challenge we have is the size of the college, versus demand which is very high,” said Dr Donora.

He said at one stage it was proposed that the country should have another veterinary college catering for the southern region of Matabeleland North and South, but the idea has since been shelved due to financial constraints.

Dr Donora said Mazowe veterinary college has thrived over the years through donor funding from such partners as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Swiss government and the European Union.

“We really need partners to assist the government with funding to build a new college, because at the moment we are having Shamva Agriculture College, which is a new institution, renting premises at the SOS in Bindura, Mashonaland Central.

“They are failing to relocate their new college as the money involved is quite a lot. They need new infrastructure such as hostels, lecture theatres etc, but due to the economic environment the government is unable to assist,” he said.

He said if the Shamva college could operate at full capacity, it would put reduce pressure on the Mazowe veterinary college.

New Ziana