Mat South loses 20pc goats to thieves, wild animals

The development is said to be increasing poverty levels among impoverished farmers who rely on the animals for a living.
Speaking during a review of farmer training projects in Matabeleland South province at a Bulawayo Hotel on Friday, a field officer from Hlekweni Training Centre, Mr Miclas Ndlovu, said Matabeleland South had about 300 000 goats, of which only one percent gets to the market with 20 percent being lost to stock thieves and wild animals.

He said goat meat had the potential to alleviate poverty among families in the rural areas as the demand for goat meat outstripped supply, while the price was almost the same as that of beef. “This could be a source of livelihood for hundreds of families and can generate much needed income for rural families,” said Mr Ndlovu.

Farmers at the workshop said they faced a number of challenges such as transporting their goats to the market, the unavailability of readily accessible markets, stock thieves, and failure to raise funds for chemicals to treat their livestock among others.
In an interview, the Matabeleland South provincial chairperson of Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU), Mrs Sister Moyo said NGOs and some government ministries took it upon themselves to teach the villagers on the economic importance of goat rearing and how to protect them from wild animals.
“NGOs such as Practical Action and Hlekweni Training Centre among others, and some government ministries are conscientising villagers on the importance of goat

rearing in a bid to alleviate poverty.
“They are also demonstrating how to erect proper structures to pen the animals using locally available resources,” said Mrs Moyo.

She said a majority of villagers kept goats for prestige or for traditional ceremonies.
Although she emphasised on the potential the region had in terms of goat rearing, she appealed to relevant stakeholders to continue imparting knowledge on the economic importance of goat rearing to farmers.
“Most of our farmers lack knowledge and we hope that if we continue having these awareness campaigns, they might respond positively since the livestock is their source of livelihood,” she said.

Ms Sikilikici Khuphe from Bulilima District, Ward 12 under Chief Madlambuzi confirmed this saying farmers needed to be educated so as to avoid being cheated by buyers and continuously losing their livestock to wild animals and stock thieves.
“A few years ago unscrupulous buyers used to come and dictate prices to us but ever since we started being taught on the economic importance of goats, this has slightly changed as few cases have been recorded of late,” said Mrs Khuphe.

She said that if ever the output of goats was to increase, the farmers had to have a business mindset and shun rearing the livestock for prestige and cultural purposes.

“We are trying to instill a business mindset among the farmers and they are slowly positively responding. Some even improvise to use their carts as a means of transport to ferry their goats to sales pens and this shows that there is change and hope,” she said.
Another farmer from Mangwe District, Mr Petros Ndlovu, of Ward 6 under Chief Tshitshi said most farmers were still to come to terms with the fact that goats could be reared for commercial purposes.

“Most farmers from Sanzukwi village are yet to realise that goats can be reared for commercial purposes. Nowadays it is expensive to rear goats and as such, if well kept, they fetch a competitive price on the market,” said Mr Ndlovu.
The Matabeleland South project manager for Hlekweni Training Centre, Ms Thandanani Moyo, confirmed that farmers cried foul over losing their livestock to stock thieves and wild animals.

She also said they were offering training to farmers and were trying to link them to buyers.
“We have and are still offering training to farmers on how to keep their goats and increase production so that they fetch competitive prices on the market and try to link them to bulk buyers,” she said.

She encouraged farmers to cross breed their goats as that usually produces a better breed.
Hlekweni Training Centre and Practical Action Southern Africa encourages agricultural practices, which enhance environmental sustainability through empowering trainees with skills and confidence to become initiators of development in rural communities and services using locally available resources and appropriate technologies.