Kupakwashe Cattle Fattening Society Creating a sustainable business for smallholder livestock farmers

I was driven by the need to empower communities in order to improve innovation, resilience and sustainability. The business links 1000 smallholder livestock producers with beef consumers thereby eliminating the middlemen and private abattoir that usually increase the cost of the transaction. In the process of implementing this organisation and market innovation, other interlinked innovations such as artificial insemination, fodder production, hydroponics and cattle fattening are implemented using the community of Practice and farm field schools. In the new value chain, there is a solar-powered community abattoir where revenue produced at this stage is invested back into the irrigation of pastures for the resilient of the system. The business wants to increase income for smallholder farmers as well as eliminating environmental negative externalities that have rebound effects on the current beef value chain.