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Elton Manguwo
THE rising cost of living coupled with cattle diseases and droughts continue to scuttle Government’s efforts to re-build the national herd with small-scale farmers surviving on selling animals for slaughter to meet social expenses.
The Government has set a target of six million cattle by 2025 up from the current 5, 2 million.
Livestock and Meat Advisory Council (LMAC) agriculture economist Dr Reneth Mano yesterday warned that random selling of cattle was negatively affecting the re-growth of the national herd.
There has been a surge in the cost of living pushed by the rise in emergency health care and college fees forcing farmers with cattle to sell more than they produce, observed Dr Mano.
He said farmers were faced with two strains – falling cattle numbers due to droughts and cattle diseases, which was robbing them of surplus stock and leaving them with reduced numbers of highly productive animals for draft power and breeding and the economic dilemma of selling cattle to pay for emergency health care and education.
Cattle in an African and small-scale farming operation are seen as a store of value and are central to small-scale farming operations, as they provide draft power and milk for day-to-day consumption hence the need to keep a herd for rural households.
Smallholder farmers in communal areas, old resettlement areas and newly resettled A1 farmers in communal farms account for 90 percent of monthly sales to all commercial abattoirs and national beef supply.
Dr Mano added: “Looking at cattle sales to abattoirs for slaughter from August 2020 to 2022 we have noted a 60 percent growth starting with 20 257 slaughters in August 2020 and rising by 26 percent to 25 763 in 2021 before shooting up again by 28 percent in August 2022 to a notch a high of 32 167 slaughters.”
Pasture shortages caused by climate change have also seen farmers delivering their animals to abattoirs to curtail losses through poverty deaths while January disease related illnesses also played their part to stymie the growth of the herd.
“The national herd is being impacted by droughts and January diseases with combined deaths estimated to have killed over 500 000 cattle in recent years leaving some villagers with severe shortages of draft power for timely land preparation.
For the national herd to grow all the dominos should be perfectly aligned, that is, farmers must have the means to invest in more cattle and retain productive cattle for breeding.
“Macro-economic stability and reducing the rising cost of health care and of college tuition is as important to building the national herd as the provision of quality veterinary support services and supplementary feed to cattle,” Dr Mano said.
Online Reporter