adminThupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
Livestock farmers here have ventured into fodder production as a way of minimising the effects of successive droughts which has seen a total of 469 cattle succumbing to hunger this year alone.
The Herald has it on good authority that Klen Karoo working with the department of Crops and livestock production has since contracted 52 farmers to produce velvet beans seed across Beitbridge.
Caritas Masvingo is reportedly coordinating the initiative, while other small scale farmers are using their own resources.
According to the department of Crop and Livestock Production, Beitbridge has 97 810 cattle, 144 432 goats, 78 826 sheep and 35 978 donkeys.
One of the farmers, Mr Public Masanga of Ward 6 in Makakavhule area said; “I have put the velvet beans on one hectare, and looking forward to growing wheat on another hectare.
“I decided to enter into fodder production to help supplement stock feeds for my cattle.
“At the same time the 3 tonnes of stock feed will get from her will be helpful in maintaining my herd. On the other hand I am producing seed for other farmers in this community”.
He said the velvet beans would not only improve the state of livestock, but will also improve the soil texture for future farming activities.
Mr Masanga said he was using water from the nearby UMzungwane River to irrigate his field and urged all the farmers living near water bodies to consider fodder production as a business.
Another farmer from Malala some 15km along the Beitbridge Bulawayo road, Mr Manda Jaka said a lot of small-scale farmers in the area had started embracing the fodder production initiative.
“Livestock production, is our source of livelihood and we have to adapt to the changes in rainfall patterns. We can’t let out cattle die, we must embrace innovation,” he said.
A senior officials in the Department of Crops and Livestock Mr Ophias Ndlovu said they were encouraging most farmers especially those living near water bodies or boreholes should embrace fodder production.
He said it was easy to grow velvet beans since it only required irrigation.
“You will note that though we are in ecological region five, our water table is very high for drilling boreholes or irrigation purposes.”
Online Reporter