The Sunday News
Limukani Ncube, Editor
The National Agricultural Policy Framework (2020), says the livestock sub-sector contributes about 19 percent to the agricultural Gross Domestic Product. It is therefore “an important and integral part of the agricultural sector with beef, dairy, small ruminants, pigs, poultry, apiculture, aquaculture and other small and emerging stock making up the livestock industry.”
The policy document further highlights that the land redistribution exercise increased the participation of more than 300,000 newly resettled farmers with varied skills and resources in livestock farming. And today, the sector has attracted even more young farmers, who are eager to make a positive impact.
“This transformation of the livestock sector has led to substantial shifts in ownership, use, and livestock management and associated effects on animal disease management, marketing, production and marketing.
Changes in land use patterns following land reform have also influenced livestock production patterns with some former cattle ranches sub-divided into smaller units for mixed cropping and livestock production.”
Due to a number of issues ranging from drought, to lack of financial capacity, the livestock herd sizes nationally have declined. Statistics available show that between 2009 and 2020, there was a 20 percent drop for beef, over 83 percent for dairy, and 26 and 25 percent for pigs and small ruminants respectively.
In addition, the government policy framework notes that on the other hand, the productivity of smallholder cattle herds remains very low, with average calving rates of about 45 percent against a potential of 60 percent, and off-take rates of about six percent against a recommended 20 percent ( number of animals a farmer sells annually as a fraction of his/ her total herd).
It is behind that background that government believes the “successful transformation of the smallholder livestock sub-sector into a fully commercialised system with increased output and productivity to meet the increased demand for animal protein and surplus for export, requires a more appropriate policy environment.”
Furthermore, the country’s economic blueprint, National Development Strategy 1, acknowledges that livestock production plays an important role in the social, cultural and economic environment of Zimbabwe.
According to the strategy document, the government is therefore prioritising animal health and production through strengthening farmer knowledge, skills in livestock production and health so as to enhance productivity.
Some of the initiatives to boost the national herd are upscaling hay cutting, development of pastures green belts and creation of forage banks, promoting on-farm feeds formulation using cassava and cow peas to produce survival rations, intestifying dipping programme and blitz tick grease application to prevent and control entry and outbreaks of animal diseases, providing lab diagnostics for confirmation of animal diseases and researches on animal diseases.
It is also strengthening implementation measures against Tsetse Fly and undertaking operational research, creating livestock business centres for small stocks (goats, sheep, pigs) based on the Hub and Spoke Model, strengthening pass on schemes for dairy, and small stock producers, increasing watering points for livestock, establishing a national bull centre and semen processing laboratory to strengthen conservation of animal genetic resources and research and develop stress tolerant animal breeds and further promote artificial insemination by cascading the programme to A1 small holder farmers.
It is also implementing financial services-led livestock development initiatives models which gradually phase out government guaranteed command programme through banks to a wholly private sector driven financing mode and climate-proof livestock production through commercialisation of fish, rabbits, bees and small stock, establishing breeding and genetic improvement centres and champion farmers, breeding and distribution of improved breeds, targeting export markets, and supporting surrounding farmers with trained livestock extension officers, harmonising collection of levies in order to reduce the cost of compliance in livestock production, resuscitating the Cold Storage Commission, localising production of livestock inputs and veterinary vaccines and medicine, establishing a Livestock Information Management and Traceability Systems for disease control and market access, and training and capacitation of extension officers.
The country is targeting a cattle herd of six million by 2025, from 5,4 million in 2020, following the launch of the Livestock Growth Plan (2020-2025) which is expected to give sustainable solutions to challenges faced by farmers and ranchers through support from government, the private sector and development partners.
The Livestock Growth Plan, which was launched by President Mnangagwa, is part of the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy expected to turn agriculture into an US$8,2 billion industry by 2025 and contribute towards the achievement of Vision 2030, where Zimbabwe reaches an upper middle income economy.
A document, crafted by the Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development Ministry shows that livestock is an important source of income for two thirds of rural households and contributes significantly to inclusive growth of the agriculture sector and the economy, as well as food and nutrition security. “The major challenges affecting the livestock sector are associated with animal health, sanitary and food safety issues; availability of adequate nutrition in feed, pastures, fodder and water, genetic improvement issues, and access to infrastructure suitable for accessing lucrative domestic, regional and international markets; and inadequate financial resources,” said the ministry.
According to the plan, beef production is expected to grow from 50 000 tonnes to 90 000 tonnes, milk production from 79,9 million to 150 million litres, while the dairy herd will grow from 38 000 to 60 000.
It is also envisaged that irrigated pastures will grow from 100 hectares in the smallholder sector to 500 hectares, while sheep numbers will increase from 522 955 to 800 000, goats rising from 4 360 838 to 6 million, the commercial sow herd from 20 000 to 25 000 and pork production from 16 600 tonnes to 22 000 tonnes.
The plan is also expected to ride on the EU-funded Zimbabwe Agriculture Growth Programme to complete the renovation of the vaccine production unit at the Central Veterinary Laboratory for production of January Disease vaccine.
In order to make sure that ordinary people have cattle start-up projects, youths across the country are getting heifers donated by President Mnangagwa under the Presidential Heifer Pass-on Scheme.
Last month, President Mnangagwa launched the Provincial Integrated Youth Skills Development Centres for each of the country’s 10 provinces where 500 youths will be recruited annually to learn agriculture skills. Each Provincial and Devolution Minister was tasked to identify 500 hectares of land to be dedicated for youth projects as Government moves to empower them.
Last week, Youths in Matabeleland North and Bulawayo provinces received 70 and 50 heifers, respectively, at a provincial launch held in Tsholotsho.
Matabeleland South and Midlands have already received their fair share. The 120 heifers are being kept on quarantine at Ngcwabeni Centre in Tsholotsho as a health precaution to prevent possible spread of diseases when livestock is moved from one province to the other, before they can be taken to farms that will be identified for each of the two provinces.
The idea is that once the heifers give birth, the offspring will be passed on to other youths as the scheme cascades to the grassroots.
The scheme follows another cattle scheme launched by President Mnangagwa, where villagers across the country, led by traditional chiefs, are getting livestock in similar fashion.
