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Elton Manguwo
Farming writer
THE progressive impact of the Government’s various intervention programmes in the beef industry is there for all to see.
After years of abysmal performance due to various challenges, the national herd is currently enjoying a new lease of life with numbers growing by two percent from 5 509 983 in 2021 to 5 642 400 in 2022.
The ultimate target is to breach 6 million by the end of this year, which clearly is possible if all stakeholders in the sector sing the same song and play their part.
In fact, the positive growth trajectory for the national beef herd started in 2020 when it had 5 478 648 cattle with the figure rising 5 509 983 in 2021.
The major draw-back to the momentum the herd had picked had come in the form of ticks and malnutrition — two evils that caused deaths of thousands of animals.
Ticks unleashed January disease while poverty deaths because of shortages of food and water claimed their fair share of the deaths.
The Government responded effectively by introducing programmes such as the Presidential Blitz Tick Grease programme, Presidential Dip Tank Rehabilitation programme, the Presidential Bull Scheme, the Presidential Youth Heifer Scheme, the Presidential Forage Programme and the Presidential Silage Scheme to attend to key aspects of herd growth such as the high mortality rates and genetics improvements.
Curbing tick-borne related diseases
Following the advent of Theileriosis (January disease) that saw the country lose more than 500 000 animals the Government declared “war” against January disease through programmes meant to boost farmers’ capacity to save their cattle from the disease.
According to the First Round of Crop, Livestock and Fisheries Assessment (CLAFA 1) the positive growth of the national herd is attributable to a fairly good season and a reduction in mortalities, especially due to tick-borne increases. The country’s cattle industry has seen a 2 percent decline in cattle mortalities from 11 percent recorded in 2020 to 9 percent in 2021 then 3 percent decline to 6 percent in 2022 as dipping was reported to be adequate in 67 percent of the 1 562 rural wards.
The Presidential Tick Grease Phase 1 saw the Government managing to distribute more than 1 million kilogrammes of the grease to farmers.
“The decline in cattle mortality rate is a result of the Government’s livestock recovery and growth plan taking effect in combating tick-borne related diseases,” said Dr Basera highlighting that a total of 766 334 stock-owners benefited from the Presidential Tick Grease programme Phase 2 in 2022 with 1 301 776 kilogrammes of tick grease getting distributed across the country.
To further secure the country’s herd, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development initiated the Dip Resuscitating Programme meant to improve basic dip tank infrastructure in the country.
During the 2023 national budget presentation, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube revealed that the Government had set aside $6,6 billion (local currency) for dip tank construction, dip tank rehabilitation, disease surveillance and control as well as vaccination programmes.
The Government has propelled the manufacturing of Theirelia BOLVAC vaccination locally, as part of the implementation of the National Integrated Ticks and tick-borne disease control strategy.
“The effective use of the vaccine together with other measures will result in the reduction of cattle mortalities and will promote higher production, productivity and profitability as envisaged in the livestock and recovery growth plan,” said Professor Ncube.
National Genetics improvements
In its push grow the beef herd, the Government is also rolling out innovative breeding technologies aimed at producing good genetics that can compete effectively on the export market following a low calving rate ranging from 35 percent in communal areas to 48 percent in large-scale commercial farms, against a national target of above 60 percent.
In terms of improving national cattle genetics, the Government effected the Presidential Youth Heifer scheme, which is intended to improve the average carcass weight of an animal, observed Dr Basera. The programme saw President Mnangagwa donating 600 heifers to youths in Kwekwe to kick-start the scheme in 2022.
The Zimbabwe Herd Book saw an increase in the number of pedigree breeders by 27 percent to reach 204 while total registered pedigree animals increased by 23 percent to 23, 210.
Poverty deaths
With climate change affecting paddock development and feed availability to small-scale farmers the Government introduced the Presidential Silage Programme and the Presidential Fodder Scheme to avert poverty deaths.
According to the 2023 Crops and Livestock Assessment report (CLAFA 1) a total of 1 979 farmers benefited from forage input packs under the Presidential Silage Programme for the smallholder dairy farming sector.
Since the inception of the programmes the country recorded zero cattle poverty deaths in 2021. More so, as part of efforts to climate proof the livestock sub-sector, the Government through the Presidential fodder bank programme capacitated 300 000 rural smallholder cattle farmers across the country this season with inputs to produce fodder.
“These programmes are contributing towards herd building by eliminating cattle deaths during the dry season, improving carcass quality, carcass weight and improving conception rates in cows through maintenance of good body condition,” said Dr Basera. In addition, the Department of Agricultural Education is spearheading research on fodder production to improve on animal nutrition to curb poverty deaths emanating from climate change.
“The production of on farm feed has reduced the cost of commercial feeds and will improve cattle production and profitability leading to farmers realising the full value of their livestock,” Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) secretary general Mr Paul Zakariya commented recently.
“Research in forage legume production is key in providing cattle with the much needed crude protein source during the dry period when the quality of grazing grass is relatively poor,” said the director of Agriculture Education in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Dr Jotamu Dondofema.
Beef marketing
The beef carcass weight increased from 168 kg in 2021 to 180kg in 2022 against the targeted average of 220kg as a result of the semi-commercial beef cattle production systems by farmers.
The National average beef cattle off-take was 9 percent in 2020 and slightly increased to 10 percent in 2021 with the marginal increase in off-take being attributed to easy access to profitable markets and value addition initiatives such as pen fattening.
“In order to improve the national cattle herd there is need to make the cattle industry attractive to farmers by remodelling the cattle marketing system so that smallholder farmers can realise and unlock real value from their cattle,” said Dr Basera said at one time.
The Government did not stop with these initiatives only but went on to resuscitate the Cold Storage Commission, which used to be the country’s largest beef exporter in the last two decades — the state owned enterprise that had stopped operations in the wake of a foot and mouth outbreak that had hit the country.
“We are now on track with Boustead Beef on a concessional agreement with the Bulawayo abattoir now up and about. We are targeting to resuscitate other abattoirs with export standards so that we ramp up beef exports,” said Dr Basera.
The country’s beef industry is on the edge of aggressive growth and expansion, thanks to the return to viable operations by the Cold Storage Commission and the beef herd count experiencing a marginal growth of 0, 6 percent per year.
“We have recorded a 60 percent growth in slaughter sales over the past three years. Cattle sales in abattoirs from August in 2020 to 2022 stood at 20 257 and rose by 26 percent to 25 763 in 2021. They were to rise again by 28 percent in August 2022 to a record high of 32 167,” an agricultural economist with the Livestock and Meat Advisory Council Dr Renneth Mano commented recently.
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