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Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made has said small-holder livestock farmers are crucial in the stabilisation of Zimbabwe’s agri-based economy as they contribute the bulk of the national herd. Speaking during a briefing with a World Bank team that is conducting a survey on areas that require assistance for the improvement of the smallholder livestock production sector, Minister Made said 4,9 million cattle out of the 5,5 million herd of cattle were owned by the small holder sector.
For that reason, said Minister Made, it was crucial to boost small holder livestock production.
“President Robert Mugabe recently stressed the need for small holder livestock producers to improve on breeds and better husbandry operations to improve the quality of livestock,” he said.
He said the sector was important and this has been evidenced by the appointment of Deputy Minister Paddy Zhanda who is wholly responsible for livestock.
Minister Made said the agriculture ministry would soon come up with a livestock policy to ensure the sector is given importance as is the case with crop production.
He noted that livestock was included in some agricultural policies but not as a stand-alone.
‘”The livestock policy will be necessitated by the new structure where we have a Deputy Minister for livestock. It will also encompass major livestock producers, looking at how livestock producers can boost their investment and earnings,” he said.
Minister Made said the World Bank team was assisting in identifying areas that require attention and the implementation would be done by Government, the private sector and donors.
Presenting the small holder livestock framework to Minister Made, World Bank local representative, Dr Leonard Reynolds said the team carried out a survey to look at investment and policy to improve income generated by smallholder livestock producers.
The survey, funded by World Bank with the technical input from the ministry officials, was carried out countrywide for three weeks.
Mr Reynolds said it revealed that there was need to improve the issue of animal health, border controls and improvement of the grading and classification of livestock.
“A lot of livestock sales are going under the informal market because of the long chain a farmer has to follow when selling his cattle.
“It would be better if the whole system is centralised so that the farmer can find the police, local leaders and veterinary officer on one station to reduce the time taken during the process,” he said.
Mr Reynold also noted that there was limited staff responsible for livestock in most areas as compared to Agritex officers attending to crop farmers.
He said in some instances livestock issues were being attended to by Agritex officials.
Online Reporter