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Mhlupheki Dube
THE drought situation in the country needs an all hands on the deck approach, and it needs it now.
It is now beyond debate that this year is going to be a mother of all droughts not only in Zimbabwe but in the Southern African Development Community region, as we read that countries in this region are experiencing the worst famine in recent recorded history.
Only proactive action can help minimise the effects of this devastating drought. This means that the time for intervention and action for or by all interested parties is now.
It will be absolutely folly for us to sit around and wait to start counting and recording cadavers all over the veld and then scream for action. In any case we have already recorded massive poverty deaths of cattle this year and the imminence of another drought against this loss should jolt us into decisive action.
I move that Government should be the first to press the panic buttons and send the panic message to all concerned. It is perfectly correct to panic under such a situation as panicking will cause for appropriate action to be taken by all concerned. What is not right is for us as a country to sit and bury our heads in the sand and hope the situation will resolve itself. It won’t.
Like I have suggested before in my previous discussions, the Government should declare this drought a State of Disaster, so that its relevant departments can be activated into action.
This declaration will also help other organisations such as non-governmental organisations to mobilise for funding to assist. This can help to have these non-governmental organisations roll out their important interventions such as subsidising stock feed.
We need that to happen as a matter of urgency so that farmers can be able to buy feed and help their animals. However, this may not be very easy with the current prices considering that farmers will need to feed for close to 12 months before the next rainfall season.
I resubmit my call for a national indaba to discuss the livestock situation and paint the upcoming picture so as to help different players in the value chain including consumers to visualise the extent of the upcoming damage in the sector as a result of the drought.
It is my feeling that at times those that are supposed to help lead the action in intervention are relaxed because they have no graphic imagination of how the situation will unfold. They will start running all over the place seeking for late help when the situation is beyond redress.
If there is any time when livestock farmers’ crying voice should be amplified is now and such bodies as farmers’ unions should lead the way in raising the alarm. Every opportunity should be taken to paint the upcoming picture for a monumental disaster that it promises to be.
It will be sad to behave as if the drought effect has caught us unaware when all the signs of a disaster of epidemic proportions are there for all to see. If there is a time for active participation of everyone in the livestock value chain is now or else, we will have very little sector to talk about after this drought.
It is not an exaggeration that many smallholder farmers will have to start from zero after this drought has passed. There shall be a complete wiping out of herds with farmers salvaging nothing as animals die in droves in the veld.
There will be very little meat grades which are better than commercial grades in the butcheries as shelves will be filled with mostly manufacturing grading. Suddenly average grades like commercial will be sold at premium price because of scarcity. Lets act now and save a potentially disastrous situation from graduating into a full-blown catastrophe.
Uyabonga umntakaMaKhumalo.
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