ELLEN MLAMBO
MIRROR REPORTER

MASVINGO- EBEN Hardware and Women Entrepreneurship Day Organization (WEDO) are holding a second one-day poultry farming business training workshop at a local hotel in Masvingo next Saturday.
EBEN hardware director and WEDO Masvingo province ambassador Benonia Machavuda confirmed the workshop in an interview with The Mirror.
She said the second edition is running under the theme; Eradicating Poverty through Poultry Production.
Machavuda said Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) Bank Masvingo Regional Manager Alice Jeke will be the guest of honour.
Jeke and other bankers from Agribank are expected to take participants through financing.
Presenters are drawn from the Department of Veterinary Services, EBEN Hardware, FIVET and WEDO among other organisations.
Sixty-five people attended the first training workshop on July 22, 2023, in Masvingo. Participants came from as far as Zvishavane and Mwenezi.
Organisers of the event are anticipating an increase in the number of participants.Registration for the workshop is US$10. The thrust of the workshop is to create market linkages for local farmers. Participants will receive certificates.
“We are happy that the poultry business training is growing in leaps and bounds. This year’s training will concentrate on poultry production and we will have financial aspects. We have realised that most of our farmers are into poultry production. Farmers will also be sharing experiences.
“There are farmers who have grown from small scale to commercial from the period we had our first training. There is an overwhelming demand for Sussex and Rainbow chicks,” she said.
Some of the topics to be covered include roadrunners, broilers, Sasso production, farm management, vaccination, feed and management, record keeping, budgeting and profitable production.
Machavuda is also the board chairperson at Ratidzo Zimcare Trust, a school for children living with disabilities and a board member of Tariro Trust which supports vulnerable children. She added that participants are mainly EBEN customers, potential customers and female farmers from across the province.
“At EBEN Hardware, we have a great interest in women’s empowerment through Agriculture. We have embarked on the women and girl child support in agricultural projects, especially with the Hamara roadrunner sasso breed,”
EBEN hardware is the only approved Hamara Poultry and Feed agent in Masvingo province.