The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporter
A 35-year-old Mvurwi farmer, Mr Trymore Muderere, is constructing a state-of-the-art laboratory for cattle embryo transfer, a technology that is believed to be the first of its kind in Zimbabwe.
Having started cattle breeding last year by specialising in the Boran breed, he now boasts a herd of 135 pure Boran cattle.
Excluding other breeds, he has invested over US$700 000 in Boran stud bulls.
Speaking to The Sunday Mail recently, Mr Muderere said: “In Zimbabwe, artificial insemination is gradually becoming common among cattle farmers, but the facility we are to establish here is one of its kind. Embryo transfer is a process of harvesting an egg from a female cow of our desired breed and fertilising it in a laboratory with the semen from a top bull (in vitro fertilisation).
“It is conception in a laboratory environment £ a pregnancy outside a womb by mimicking the natural conditions.
“After this process is complete, you then prepare your surrogate mothers of any breed, even the Mashona breed, and insert that pregnancy into them. You just hormonally treat them, observe them and monitor them until delivery, which will be normal.”
Genetically, he said, the surrogate cow has nothing of its own in the calf to be born.
It just feeds, carries and delivers the calf. “The idea is to upscale the topline cattle of proven genetics. In essence, the lifespan of a cow is an average of 12 years; if you are using normal delivery or normal mating, this translates to 12 calves. But when you employ our embryo transfer method, in one cow, you can get up to 36 calves,” he added.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Permanent Secretary Dr John Basera, who visited the Muderere Farm, said the youthful
farmer had heeded President Mnangagwa’s call to actively participate in transforming agriculture through leveraging on new technology.
“Today, I declare this plot as the centre of excellence, where all youths and other farmers will learn from. This is the Livestock Recovery and Growth Plan in motion — no doubt about that,” said Dr Basera.
The budding agripreneur, Dr Basera added, is directly and indirectly creating employment through his thriving livestock venture.
“Muderere mastered the art of the Presidential Rural Development Scheme, which entails improving livelihoods at household level with diversification of projects that empower the rural population.
“We can see that if we have more youths like him, the vision of our President will be achieved. He is creating employment indirectly,” he said.
“It is not sustainable for a farmer to always go to the shop and buy feed, so farmers should be able to look inward on their farms in terms of on-farm feed formulations so that we improve on production and achieve profitability.”
Mr Muderere pledged to offer a top-quality Boran stud bull to service cattle of neighbouring farmers for free to ensure that “no one is left behind” in improving animal genetics.
“Surrounding farmers only need to construct a big pen where the bull will be present to service all their ready cows free of charge,” he said.
There are also goats, free-range poultry and broilers on the farm.
In addition, the plot has a 50-metre x 10-metre fish pond in which the farmer released 20 000 fingerlings.
Harvesting is expected in the next few months.
The farmer is also encouraging surrounding farmers to venture into forage and pasture production, as he is prepared to buy from them at favourable prices.
