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Mhlupheki Dube
IN a casual discussion with colleagues on the business potential of other forms of livestock, there was general agreement that other forms of livestock such as piggery and goat production are not really performing properly especially on the marketing side.
While the slump in demand of pork can easily be attributed to the geometrical increase in religious sects which outlaw pork consumption as the axis of their doctrine, the same cannot be said about goat the market.
The question which therefore begs for an important answer is why have we failed as a country to have regular and structure sales of small stock as we do with cattle?
Is it really true that most people prefer beef to goat meat or we have just been conditioned to buy what the market has provided for us?
I don’t buy the idea that most people prefer beef to goat meat.
It is safe to generalise that most communal households own goats even those that do not necessarily own cattle.
The question therefore is why would people go through all the trouble of rearing something they would rather not eat?
In other words farmers keep goats because they like the meat if they eat them and they also sell them to get income.
The point of my article therefore is that Government simply needs to revise its pedestrian passerby view and approach to small stock production.
The relevant departments need to take an active role in small stock production and this should cover the entire value chain of the goat production industry.
In fact, farmers are doing their part in production and Government must do its part in marketing.
Regular and organised goat markets should be developed if we honestly wish to support smallholder farmers.
Whoever said livestock auctions only refers to cattle auctions must be told to revise his definition.
Cattle auctions cannot and should not be treated as mutually exclusive with goat markets because they are not. The Government livestock extension services need to be energised towards promoting small stock especially the marketing side.
Small stock production should not be a “by the way” item of the agenda but must constitute the main subject.
We honestly wish to support our parents and grandparents in terms of generating income for them.
Even from a gender perspective this is a more realistic means of ensuring women earn income from their livestock as research has shown that there is less patriarchal bureaucracy in making a decision to sell small stock in comparison with selling cattle.
As livestock players and practitioners we honestly need to put on our thinking caps and identify what needs to be done and do it.
Small stock production cannot be relegated to research and trials. We certainly cannot afford to relegate small stock marketing to rituals, ceremonies and pilgrimages.
How can the private sector be activated to support and breathe life into the comatose small stock markets?
It is certainly a no brainer that if big chain supermarkets can provide a market for small stock especially goats the whole value chain can change.
Why are these big chain supermarkets with branches nationwide not selling goat meat in most of their branches? Is it because they can’t get the supply they need?
If so, then where is the missing link? Because farmers have the goats, Zimbabweans consume goat meat and are producing goats.
An improvement in goat markets can actually improve cattle production because then farmers can easily sell the goats to get the disposable income they need for improvements in their cattle herd. It is very practical that with a good reliable goat market a farmer can sell 40 goats and buy a high quality bull that he needs to improve his herd.
Government simply have to formulate clear cut strategies of improving markets for goat producers and pursue the strategy to its logical conclusion.
Bongani Ndlovu