About 6,000 goats have so far been distributed under the Presidential Goat Scheme before the scheme was stopped owing to problems and bottlenecks it suffered occasioned by the failure to provide the animals by those contracted to supply them, Senators heard yesterday.

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka, said the programme was supposed to benefit 35 000 villages, including traditional chiefs, headmen and village heads and a possible 1,8 million homesteads.

He was responding to questions from Manicaland Senator, Cde Irene Zindi, who wanted to know what became of the Presidential Goat Scheme. In response, Dr Masuka said the programme was stopped and will resume after full reflection of what needs to be done to improve it, learning from the previous mistakes.

"When the programme was mooted, we wanted to give the goats to chiefs, headmen and village heads," said Dr Masuka.