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‘Theseus Shambare recently in MAZOWE
FARMERS have been urged to embrace sustainable breeding of drought- and disease-resistant livestock to combat the effects of climate change.
This came out during a three-day National Climate Action in Livestock Conference held in Mazowe, Mashonaland Central Province, last week. Livestock farmers have predominantly focused on breeding exotic breeds of cattle, such as the Brahman, and other animals whose genetics make them grow fast.
These breeds, however, require intensive dipping and vaccination.
Experts believe indigenous breeds such as Mashona, Tuli and Nkone were key to growing a climate-smart national herd for sustainable livestock production.
They perform well under harsh conditions, for example, during droughts.
Director of the department of livestock research in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Mr Andrew Chamisa said: “Our Mashona breed requires little attention, but can survive on little and even brown grass.
“In the absence of grass, it can also survive on leaves and little water. It is a tried-and-tested breed that resists diseases; it produces an oily substance that kills parasites, so it is the kind of cattle that can be kept in a rural home.
“When managed well, its beef output contends with all the other larger exotic breeds.”
Communities and landscape resilience consultant Ms Astrid Huelin said rearing exotic breeds was costly and could damage the environment.
“Zimbabwe needs to take a leaf from Zambian farmers,” she said.
“I know farmers who raise Nkone breeds that have gone for close to four years without dipping. They have the same diseases as ours here, like theileriosis (January disease), and on top of that, they also have African animal trypanosomiasis, but their herd is growing with no artificial spraying.”
Before Government embarked on a programme to rehabilitate community dip-tanks, she said, indigenous cattle breeds continued to thrive, which is testament to their resilience.
Shangani Holistic Ranch research manager Mr Peter Makumbe said scientific research has proven that raising indigenous cattle was more economical than keeping exotic breeds.
“We had the advantage of comparing these breeds and from the research results we got, the indigenous calves’ survival was quite high, while those breeds were also resistant to tick-borne diseases,” he said.
“In terms of supplementary feeding, our Nkone never required supplementary feeding.
“We only supplement struggling breeds like Brahman and Boran, but never the Nkones.”
The Nkone breed, he added, can also thrive in arid and semi-arid regions.
“In addition, we also lost some exotic breeds to hypothermia after they developed abnormally low body temperatures below 35 degrees Celsius, but our Mashona and Nkone breeds never struggled.”
He urged Government to promote indigenous breeds when undertaking farmer support programmes.
Climate expert Dr Walter Svinurai, however, said Government needs to initiate a community-based approach to reduce inbreeding, which affects the performance of local breeds.
“We all know that many people now think that local breeds are smaller animals; this is because of too much inbreeding that took place for a long time.
“There is a need for the Government to come up with a model where, in a particular area, we introduce bulls that will serve that area and eliminate non-performing animals so that we create a national herd that is productive,” said Dr Svinurai.
Zimbabwe plans to grow the national herd to eight million by 2025.
The three-day conference was held in partnership with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation — a global entity with technical expertise in sustainable agricultural practices in fisheries, forestry and other water and land resources.
It ran under the theme “Scaling up Climate Actions to Enhance Nationally Determined Contributions and Livestock System”.
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