LIVESTOCK farmers in Masvingo Province have been urged to take advantage of Government’s subsidised stock feed and refrain from buying expensive products from unscrupulous retailers.
Masvingo Beef Producers Association chairman, Mr Robert Makado said the inflated stock feed prices by some retailers were a threat to the growth of most communal farmers’ enterprises as well as to the province’s beef production and as such farmers should make use of Government’s financially supported facilities.
Masvingo has a significant contribution to the country’s national herd accounting for about 1, 4 million cattle to the estimated total of 5,4 million.
“We urge all farmers, both A1 and communal farmers to take advantage of the heavily subsidised stock feed. The feed is sold at $7 per 50 kilogrammes (kgs) and $140 a tonne. This is a fair price and farmers should exploit this so that they can accrue maximum benefits,” Mr Makado said.
He said the facility was being offered by National Foods and supported by the Food and Agricultural Organisation with farmers obliged to obtain a letter from the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development’s Department of Livestock Production and Development to qualify for the scheme.
“In other markets the stock feed costs between $15 and $24 per 50kg bag and that is exorbitant especially for farmers with large herds. If a farmer buys expensive stock feed, he or she would run a loss given that under normal circumstances one beast consumes between three and six kgs of feed a day and when fed for the market it consumes more,” Mr Makado said.
He urged farmers to vaccinate their animals during this period so as to guard against unwarranted cost during the rainy season as diseases tend to be rampant during this period.
“Vaccination should be done during dry seasons when there are no diseases to worry about. If farmers delay till the rainy season, it will be expensive because instead of prevention the animals will need to be cured.”
Common cattle diseases in Masvingo include foot and mouth and lumpy skin, which claimed a number of cattle in February this year in Chiredzi, Mwenezi and Zaka districts.