Tinaye Agere
Oliver Kazunga
Senior Business Reporter
STAKEHOLDERS in the agriculture sector are upbeat that the US$2 billion livestock economy by 2025 is achievable, driven by interventions they are implementing, with the support of the Government, to boost production.
Through the Livestock Recovery and Growth Plan (2021-2026), the Government is putting in place interventions to address animal production and productivity issues, thereby lay a solid foundation for the sector to assume its role of transforming farmers’ livelihoods and providing raw materials for agriculture-led industrial development.
The strategy was informed by the challenges associated with animal health, sanitary and feed safety issues, and availability of adequate nutrition (pastures, fodder and water); genetics improvement issues; and inadequate financial resources, among others.
The Government, through the plan, intends to grow the national cattle herd to six million by the end of this year and eight million by 2025.
The country’s beef cattle herd grew by two percent from 5 509 983 in 2021 to 5 642 400 in 2022.
In an interview last week, Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Dr Shadreck Makombe expressed optimism that the projected livestock economy is attainable.
“It is achievable given the inroads and efforts by the Veterinary Department, especially through workshops and seminars aimed at creating awareness on interventions livestock farmers can make to boost production.
“For example, in terms of breeding, the Government has been intensifying artificial insemination across the country, encouraging plunge dipping to kill pests that transmit diseases to animals, as well as supplying chemicals, vaccines and drugs.
“Certainly, with all those measures, there is nothing that can stop the farmers (small-scale, communal and commercial) from achieving the projected growth in the livestock sector,” he said.
Dr Makombe said communal and small-scale farmers, who have traditionally been treating livestock rearing as a symbol of wealth, are now considering the practice as a business and this is due to intensified awareness campaigns.
Official figures from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development indicate that an estimated 86 percent of these households derive their livelihoods from livestock and livestock products.
The livestock sector includes numerous species of animals, which include beef and dairy cattle, goats, sheep, poultry, pigs, farmed fish, crocodiles and bees.
The intensive production system — which is common in regions I and II, the Highveld — involves rearing of animals that include dairy and beef cattle, pigs, poultry and rabbits.
The livestock sector contributes significantly to the inclusive growth and development of the national economy.
Through the Livestock Recovery and Growth Plan, it is expected that food security and nutrition, employment creation and household incomes will be enhanced.
Asked about the major challenges facing the livestock sector, Dr Makombe said they are largely disease outbreaks, frequent droughts and theft.
“Disease outbreaks in the livestock sector are really a menace the authorities are grappling with to control.
“The diseases include tick-borne, foot and mouth, anthrax, African swine fever and the January disease. This is why efforts have
been intensified to create awareness and measures to control the diseases,” said Dr Makombe.
In 2017, Zimbabwe lost over 55 000 cattle due to tick-borne-related diseases before the figure spiked to 500 000 by 2020.
This prompted the Government to institute measures to avert the situation, for instance, increasing its budget towards the fight against the January disease.
The Second Republic has also come up with the Zimbabwe Integrated Ticks and Tick-Borne Disease Control Strategy that comprises scientifically proven approaches that apply to the local environment to avert deaths, minimise losses and/or maximise benefits.
In 2021, mortality dropped by 47 percent compared to the 2020 figure while last year, a further reduction of 39 percent was recorded.
“There is also a menace of stock theft, where cattle rustlers have wreaked havoc in some parts of the country and we are encouraging the farmers to safeguard their livestock.
“Our appeal to the Government is that security forces should intensify their patrols to curb stock theft,” he said.
In a separate interview, Livestock Farmers Union chairman Mr Sifiso Sibanda, who is also a livestock farmer in Matabeleland South, one of the cattle ranching regions in Zimbabwe, concurred with Dr Makombe that the US$2 billion economy the sector targets by 2025 is achievable and can be surpassed.
“It can be done but there are some sticky issues that need to be tackled. First of all, we need to transform ranching into a fully fledged industry, an industry that has got a linkage to the market.
“What we are happy about, as livestock farmers, at the moment is that we are able to buy chemicals, vaccines and drugs on our own to control diseases, which are a major menace to livestock production,” he said.
In a recent interview with our sister publication, The Herald, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Permanent Secretary Dr John Basera said the year-on-year growth being recorded in these sub-sectors will position the country to achieve its 2025 target.
“We are looking to increase production, productivity, market competitiveness and organisational efficiencies for cattle producers through efforts to improve efficiencies at production level by promoting good animal practices such as dipping, vaccination and supplementary feeding to reduce animal mortality rate,” said Dr Basera.
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