The Sunday News
Methuseli Gwayi
THE Sunday News has no doubt done a sterling job in putting livestock farming on the news agenda by way of dedicated reportage and a weekly column penned by Mhlupheki Dube. Farmers have found the issues and views expressed in the stories and column informative, helpful and sometimes controversial.
It is time for us farmers to be active participants in debates about issues that affect us in order to contribute towards policy formulation and implementation by the Government by advocating for our own interests. My view is that we have been found wanting or too conservative to engage in debate. The result has been that some of the issues have been presented from the point of view of policy makers and implementers, the Government, state information agencies and the Department of Veterinary Services, to the exclusion of the actual farmers’ viewpoint.
Cattle and other livestock farming provides livelihood to every household in Zimbabwe, particularly in the semi-arid natural regions four and five consisting of southern Zimbabwe. Therefore any policy shift in the marketing and movement of cattle is bound to generate a lot of anxiety and even problems for communities, if it happens abruptly, like was the case with the closure of the two cattle sale pens in Bulawayo last year. Initially, we were told the pens were closed as a measure to control the spread of the Foot and Mouth Disease.
However, the reason for the continued closure has now shifted — we are told this is meant to decentralise cattle sales to rural areas. The assumption and argument by the Deputy Minister responsible for livestock production, Honourable Paddy Zhanda is that buyers must go out in the districts and buy cattle directly from farmers, in order to by-pass middlemen.
The assumption — yes it is an assumption — is that decentralising sales will render the middlemen irrelevant and result in the farmer getting more money for his/her animal. My argument, based on experiences as a small-scale cattle farmer is that this is far-fetched, unnecessary and a costly experiment the farmer should not be burdened with.
As correctly captured by Sunday News columnist Dube in his instalment two weeks ago, district sales have always been there in every part of Zimbabwe. There is no reason for anyone to be excited about them and imagine that this is an invention or discovery. What is also true is that ever since the “enforced” decentralisation of sales, cattle prices have worsened in the district sales. I recently sold my 300-kilogramme cow for $290 at Shangani Cattle Sale pens in Insiza North.
This is the worst ever price I have fetched for a cow at a cattle sale. The net results of enforced decentralised sales is that the price of cattle has gone down significantly by more than 50 cents a kilogramme compared to previous trends.
Many have argued there are other economic factors compounding this such as shortage of cash. The reasons are every simple from my perspective as a farmer. Centralised sales in Bulawayo used to bring together cattle from all over the region and this attracted virtually all abattoirs, meat wholesalers, butcheries and even individual buyers for functions such as weddings and other social gatherings. This was by no means not just for the so-called elite. This naturally assured buyers that they would find enough cattle to choose from, and they turned up in numbers and competition ensured that the farmer got the highest possible offer for their animal. In my case, I would organise other farmers in my village and we put our animals in a pool and shared the cost of transporting them to Bulawayo. In our analysis, we made more money when selling our animals in Bulawayo than selling them at local sales. Still, the option of selling at the local sale was there. But now we have no option but to sell at the local pens. Even if the prices are low at the local sale we have to let the beasts go because we need money to pay our herdsmen and to manage the rest of the herd. We cannot afford the cost of taking them back to the village. At the Bulawayo sales, there was the option of taking the cattle for slaughter and wholesaling carcasses to butchers.
This brings me to Dube’s argument that the closure of sale pens in Bulawayo “has been met with mixed feelings with the affluent few section of farmers screaming to high heavens claiming that decentralising sales is contributing to the plummeting of livestock prices while the majority of smallholder rural farmers appreciate the model of decentralised sales as it brings the market to their door step.” This is far from the truth. It is the small-scale farmer like me who has been hard hit by the plummeting prices.
Big producers can sell in bulk and negotiate prices and in most cases have other resources and can hold onto their cattle until prices improve. And they have quality breeds, another plus in bargaining. For us small-scale farmers, cattle are the only disposable assets we have and we usually sell in small numbers and they are of less quality, thereby unable to negotiate with buyers.
Hon Zhanda’s argument that district sales ensure that the money remains in the communities is true. Also true is the fact that the farmers will also board buses to city centres to buy vaccines, dips, goodies and farming inputs. Money circulates, naturally. So it does not matter whether one receives it in Nkayi or in Bulawayo, it will have to be spent somehow somewhere and that keeps the economy going.
Hon Zhanda has also argued that farmers benefit from decentralised sales because they simply hoof their cattle to sale pens at no cost. This is far from the truth. In my case, the sale pens are 50 kilometres away and I still need to hire transport to take my one beast there. Some farmers are actually far than that from the district sales. As few as 50 cattle are yarded at these sales, and bulk buyers do not bother attending, leaving farmers at the mercy of the local dealers and butchers who take turns to mop up the cattle for a pittance. Meanwhile, the dealers will round up all the animals at the various sales and deliver them to the abattoirs in Bulawayo, for a good profit of course.
The major disgruntlement for farmers in Matabeleland is that there is apparent inconsistency in the implementation of the decentralisation policy, faulty as we see it. I am aware that sale pens in some parts of the country, in particular sale pens at Mount Hampden near Harare, have remained open until last week. That is if they have been closed at all. Why the inconsistency if we are going the decentralisation route? Such disparities — if left unexplained — fuel speculation as people begin to concoct all manner of theories to explain them.
Every cattle farmer will agree with me that the closure of sale pens in Bulawayo has hit us hard. Our view is that the Government must leave market forces to play themselves out and trust the farmer to be able to choose what best suits their situation, be it to take their animals to the local or city sales. Forcing farmers to sell their cattle at district sales is tantamount to forcing vegetable farmers to sell their produce at the farms and not bring it to the cities. Imagine what would happen to those vegetables. Products go to markets and not the other way round. We wonder what the latest thrust is meant to achieve.
Abattoirs, who are the major buyers, simply do not turn up at these sales and know that the poor farmer will be forced to sell his animal cheaply to local dealers who will group them and hire a lorry and deliver them to the abattoirs for a mark-up. The chaos and price distortion that has resulted from decentralising sales has actually made it very lucrative for abattoirs and meat wholesalers. Cattle have become cheaper, while they have maintained the prices of meat at last year’s levels. They are smiling all the way to heaven, while the poor farmer wails all the way to hell.
The Government must, in my view concern itself with fighting and eradicating FMD through vaccination and erecting veterinary fence boundaries to prevent the spread of the disease, than concern itself with the marketing of cattle. New scientific evidence from the FAO to the effect that carrier cattle do not actual the spread FMD has cast doubt on the necessity for current strong handed tactics aimed at controlling the spread of the disease.
Farmers have not failed to market their livestock, hence no reason for any drastic intervention such as we have witnessed. Market forces will take care of that in the manner that stock exchanges do. The other crucial factor about policy change is timing and environment. There is a cash crisis in the country right now. Who would be able to raise cash to take to a rural cattle sale under the on-going cash withdrawal restrictions?
There is need for the Government to consult widely, and for farmers’ unions to speak out against unfavourable policies. I have not heard any of the farmer organisations’ voice on this issue, leaving farmers to vent their frustrations in informal chat groups which unfortunately is not enough to convince those in charge of policy.
My advice to fellow farmers and other stakeholders is that we must come out from our cocoons and give our perspectives on issues publicly for the Government to know and balance interests when formulating or caning policy.
Dube also suggested that the “Government should seriously consider prohibiting selling of animals directly to abattoirs but these should go out and buy directly from farmers at district level auction sales and then transport their animals to the abattoirs. If this is done no buyer will sit in his/her office unless if he/she is contemplating changing business”. My view, and that of virtually all farmers I have spoken to, is that all this is not necessary.
The marketing of beef should be liberalised just like the sale of all agricultural produce. Controls distort markets and create unnecessary confusion. This is precisely the reason why the Government abandoned price controls. The net result is that prices of commodities have remained stable and producers can predict trends. Unfortunately this is not the case with cattle prices. The artificial depression in prices has only benefited meat wholesalers and not the consumer and the farmer.
It is my hope and wish that other farmers and agricultural experts also come forward and share their views here and elsewhere. It has been my observation that farmers’ unions are mute and very weak in advocacy, yet agricultural issues continue to prop up on a daily basis in the public domain. In the meantime, we thank Sunday News and our columnist Dube and indeed all media houses for keeping us informed about goings-on in the livestock industry and farming in general.
