Chronicle Editor
Fairness Moyana in Hwange
KASIBO farmers in Hwange District have ventured into commercial cattle farming and have since started constructing cattle feeding pens to fatten the livestock for the market.
The 61 farmers operating under the banner Kasibo Livestock Group are pen-feeding over 600 cattle.
The group chairperson, Mr Hebert Makwala said plans are also underway to establish an abattoir.
“We are building cattle feeding pens so that we can fatten our cattle. The prices of cattle in our area are lower so once we fatten them they should reach a minimum of 350kg,” he said.
“We then look for buyers who can come and collect the cattle from our feeding pen. The plan is to be commercial farmers and improve the well-being of people in the communities.”
Mr Makwala said their members managed to have their animals vaccinated against diseases and bought supplementary feeding through collective effort, which has helped reduce the mortality rate.
“We contribute some money which we use to vaccinate and dose our cattle. We also get some supplementary feeding, especially for those with calves,” he said.
“So far, we have over 600 cattle from January to date, sold livestock worth US$6 000. We help each other in marketing our livestock. We try to encourage those that have few cattle to join the group so that they benefit from the vaccination.”
The farmers accused buyers mostly from Bulawayo of short-changing them by undervaluing their livestock and buying them for a song.
“The challenges we face at the moment is that prices of cattle are low and we are forced to sell our animals for as low as US$300. However, if you fatten your cow you can get between US$900 and US$1 000 and that’s the idea of doing pen fattening,” said Mr Makwala.
To reduce the effects of livestock losses due to the El Niño-induced drought, farmers are urged to sell some of their cattle to buy stock feeds.
“Presently, we still have some grass, but we are likely to run out of pastures hence we are encouraging people to sell their livestock to buy feed. That’s the message we are putting across to our farmers,” said Mr Makwala.
Kasibo Livestock group was formed by communities through an Amalima Loko-led project that seeks to promote resilience and home-grown solutions. The project is being funded by USAid.
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