Chronicle Editor
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
THE country is witnessing a decrease in the number of farmers that are still destocking, as most of them are now adopting Government mitigatory measures put in place to save their livestock from the effects of the El Nino phenomenon, which has seen pastures depleted.
Last month, with a cattle destocking frenzy in motion, several abattoirs got an overwhelming supply of cattle, which resulted in some suspending slaughtering as farmers were laying off stock in the face of a crippling drought.
The Matabeleland region which lost more cattle to poverty deaths in the last months of 2023 and early this year was also leading in the cattle destocking frenzy in March.
That saw some farmers lose their animals for a song to unscrupulous businesspeople who were offering as little as US$150 for a full beast.
The latest snap survey carried out by Sunday News revealed the decline in the huge number of cattle that were in the lairage at some abattoirs last month, which were ranging between 600 and 700 animals in a week.
At the moment the abattoirs are receiving less than 50 cattle in a week.
In an interview, Mbokodo Abattoir manager, Mr Neil Klein said there has been a decrease in the number of cattle that they slaughter.
“Sometime last month our average was about 150 cattle per day which was way above our normal kill, though we were mainly doing service slaughter where we buy some of the meat while some of it is taken to different butcheries.
“Currently, the numbers have slowed down a bit and also remember that it rained about two weeks ago so some farmers have played a wait-and-see game. Some areas received quite a bit of rain and some did not have any at all,” he said.
Mr Klein said a majority of farmers had resorted to destocking because they were having a hard time trying to access feed for their animals as there were no pastures for animals to graze while the commercial stock feed was steep for them.
He said as a viable option in the previous month farmers were in a cattle destocking frenzy to try and buy stockfeed such as hay bales so that the remainder of their cattle could survive.
In terms of the beef producer prices, he said in March their slaughter fees for the commercial were going for US$1,90 a kilogramme (kg) down from US$4,20 to US$4,50 in December while the economy was at US$1,70 from about US$3,70 and manufacture at US$1,20.
“Currently, the beef producer prices are at US$$2.20 a kg for commercial and US$2 a kg for economy. We continue to advise farmers to work together to get hay bales and buy stock feed in groups to try and save their animals, because the destocking that we witnessed the previous month of the number of cattle out there have significantly decreased,” he said.
In Umguza Estate, the Mvutcha Abattoir manager, Mr Rabson Tarisai said although they did not record high numbers of slaughter during the cattle destocking frenzy, the number of animals coming in for slaughter had decreased.
“With us, farmers book a week before for slaughter services, so last month we did not face the situation where huge numbers of animals came through for slaughter like other abattoirs were doing. Currently, I think farmers are holding on to their animals and waiting a little bit for prices to firm,” he said.
Livestock specialist and columnist, Mr Mhlupheki Dube said most farmers who were destocking last month were taking heed of extension advice to destock non-productive animals in a bid to reduce high losses and channel funds raised to buy stockfeed for the remaining animals.
He said the decrease in destocking was a result of the rains that have provided temporary relief with the grazing areas rejuvenated to push through animals for a month or so.
Mr Dube added: “As farmers begin to hold on to their animals and as the number of slaughters begin to reduce at the abattoirs the beef price will increase slightly following supply and demand principles.”
He also, however, said there was another possibility of a destocking frenzy around June, if the effects of El Nino phenomenon continue to bite.
Among some of the key 14 livestock drought mitigation measures introduced by the Government include the need to expedite hay bailing and silage making, 10 000 boreholes targeted to be drilled by the end of the year and setting up of livestock drought mitigation taskforces.
Bongani Ndlovu