Online Reporter
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
LIVESTOCK farmers will now be able to claim offals, hides, heads and hooves from abattoirs after slaughtering their beasts as deliberations to amend Statutory Instrument (SI) 182 of 2000 on Agricultural Products Marketing (Livestock/Carcass Classification and Grading) Regulation are now at an advanced stage.
In the current setup, abattoirs take the offals, hides, heads and hooves for free, depriving farmers of potential income.
This status quo is what has been known among livestock farmers as the fifth quarter policy, a policy that has been in place since the colonial era.
Responding to questions from the Zimpapers Business Hub, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development’s Permanent Secretary Professor Obert Jiri, said engagements with various players have culminated in the need to make amendments to the respective law.
“As the Government, we are working towards resolving the issue, to ensure farmers are protected and they get the full value of their beast including selling the hides to the leather industry, among other by-products.
“SI 182 of 2000 was silent on the fifth quarter system, so we can say there was no law that talks about it. However, it has now been included in the proposed amendment to SI 182 of 2000 in Section 16 sub-section (3),” he said.
The amendment on Section 16, which looks at the Classification Fees, sub-section (3) reads as follows: “When a farmer or producer brings his/her livestock for slaughter at an abattoir, the fifth quarter remains the farmer’s or the producer’s unless the abattoir operator fetches the animals from the rural areas where an auction would have taken place. Addition to issues is considered.”
Farmers across the country have said scrapping this law was long overdue, to put an end to daylight robbery so that they can get value for their animals and are able to trade fairly on the markets.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union vice president, Mr Winston Babbage said they have been engaging all the stakeholders to try to get a win-win situation for every player in the value chain.
“The fifth quarter system is a big issue where the farmer is only getting the carcass on service slaughter, while the hide and the fats are being taken by the abattoir or slaughterhouses for free,” he said.
“The hide is being exported or used to produce leather and the fats are producing glycerine, while the farmers, who are the owners of cattle get nothing at all.”
He said it was as if farmers were doing all the work in livestock production and not getting an incentive for the by-products of their livestock.
Livestock Farmers Union chairperson, Mr Sifiso Sibanda also lamented the existence of the fifth quarter system, calling for putting an end to such a practice, to improve the viability of livestock farming.
He said it was seriously bleeding the farmers, especially as some were struggling to recover from last year’s devastating El Nino-induced drought.
The drought was one worst in decades, with Matabeleland the hardest-hit region, while nationally, over 40 000 cattle deaths were reported.
“We need the Government to intervene and remove the regulation where abattoirs take offals, hides, heads and hooves for free under the fifth quarter.
“This should be retained by farmers because it has value. Abattoirs sell these parts, they do not give them away for free. There is no justification for this practice,” he said.
He also criticised the current livestock pricing system, where buyers arbitrarily tag prices without proper valuation, calling for a grading system that ensures that for super, choice and economy grades, animals are properly weighed so that farmers know their exact worth before selling.
