May 16, 2012

Zambia has been loaned ZZMK65 billion (US$50 million) by the World Bank, which will help to boost local poultry production and control animal diseases.

World Bank has given the amount for the country's Livestock Development and Animal Health Project, which is aimed at 400,000 small-holder producers and to help shift the current focus on maize production to poultry sector in the future.

World Bank country director, Kundhavi Kadiresan, said that the project is aimed at livestock farmers to enhance cattle, sheep, goat, pigs and poultry production.

Funding of the project will also help in tackling animal diseases such as Newcastle disease in chickens, Contagious Bovine Plural Pneumonia (CBPP) and Foot and Mouth disease in cattle, Kadiresan added.

The Livestock Development and Animal Health Project is targeted at the eastern, southern and western provinces of Zambia. The country will have to repay the loan in the next 40 years and will also get a 10 year grace period.