THE Bulawayo Agricultural Society (BAS) has strengthened its partnership with the Department of Agricultural, Technical, and Extension Services (Agritex), which has successfully attracted farmers from across the region to this year's show.
The show is running concurrently with the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) that began this week.
BAS administrative officer Natalie Adlam said the organisation has expanded its group section to include value-added products at this year's exhibition, where there have been more than 1 000 additional individual entries for the show.
“The BAS, in conjunction with Agritex has worked extremely hard to reach all corners of our region to include farmers from all walks of life. The society has also begun rewarding Agritex officers for bringing quality exhibitors and their exhibits to the show,” Adlam told the ZITF newsletter.
She said while BAS continued to expand exponentially, it maintained an excellent working relationship with the government, its partner in the ZITF expo.
Adlam said in the cattle fat stock section, there were 85 entries, which is a significant increase from 10 in 2022 and six in 2021. There will be 55 pedigrees at the show this year, up from 18 last year.
She said the number of entries in that section was in accordance with the prevalence of foot and mouth disease (FMD) and the Department of the Veterinary Services, as to how many animals may travel to the showgrounds.
“The BAS has deliberately mantained the number of entries that a pedigree farmer may bring to the show, to encourage more breeders to exhibit. In 2022, four breeders displayed cattle. In 2023, a total of nine exhibitors are bringing cattle,” Adlam said.
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“In 2022, two breeds were exhibited as opposed to four this year all around, a better achievement.”
In the sheep section, there are 139 entries this year up from seven in the previous year and 28 goat entries were recorded this year, up from 19 in 2022.
“A new addition to this year's show is the carcass competition, and this is to teach farmers the difference between raising an animal on the hoof and how it relates to an animal on the hook,” Adlam said.
In the poultry section, she said the number of exhibits had remained stable since the easing of the COVID-19 restrictions and the exhibition hall would be full, as usual, with 160 birds on show, together with 22 rabbits.
There are more than 2 600 entries in the crop produce section this year, 17 entries in cotton production, 130 commercial produce entries, and 17 produce groups. These are drawn from Bubi, Umguza, Umzingwane, Hwange, Mangwe, Matobo and Nkayi. Adlam said the BAS committee would this year have a bigger horse show than in the recent past and it remained one of the most popular events at the show.
