Portrait of woman smiling
“I am a passionate scientist - and there’s nothing more gratifying than working in a lab with all the equipment I need. And I look forward to farmers improving the quality of their livestock herds and farming business through the work I am doing.”
▲ Shimta Atipa Nembaware
UNDP Zimbabwe Annual Report
2024 in Review

Banking on Better Breeds

Theresa Rukuni
Laboratory Research Officer at Matopos Research Institute
Matopos Research Institute is one of five national research stations where, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, we established innovation platforms to champion modern climate-smart agricultural practices, transforming traditional farming approaches into resilient solutions for today’s challenges.
▲ Ensuring quality in livestock breeding: Matopos Research Institute now assesses semen viability, complementing its core mission of preserving hardy indigenous breeds.
Theresa’s work involves conserving Zimbabwe’s adaptable indigenous cattle breeds, and ensuring their genetic material is available across the country for breeding - an important task to grow and protect the country’s 5.5 million cattle herd from the changing climate.
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Working with the Ministry of Agriculture, we equipped Theresa’s laboratory with cutting-edge equipment for testing, packaging and cryopreservation. This technological leap has expanded the institute’s capacity to disseminate superior genetics across the country, conduct rigorous semen viability assessments, and execute precise, impactful research.
3 million
Capacity of livestock semen straws that the state-of-art equipment is able to process and package per annum
$400,000
Value for procuring, installing and providing user training on usage of the new laboratory equipment
Zimbabwe Government coat of arms
Green Climate Fund logo
Support to the five innovation platforms, including Matopos Research Institute, is made available with thanks to the Green Climate Fund and the Government of Zimbabwe.