Vusumuzi Dube
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
THE Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development’s Permanent Secretary Professor Obert Jiri has said they will be engaging various players to ensure the fifth quarter issue is addressed as it continues to bleed livestock farmers.
The fifth quarter policy has been in place since the colonial era and allows abattoirs to take offals, the head and the skin of every beast they slaughter, which farmers have said is unfair to them.
Farmers across the country have said scrapping of this law was long overdue to put an end to the daylight robbery so that they can get value for their animals and are able to trade fairly on the markets.
Speaking in a media briefing on the sidelines of the Effective Livestock Disease Management Conference organised by Sunday News in Bulawayo on Friday, Prof Jiri said they were addressing the issue as it is their responsibility to protect farmers.
“The debate on the fifth quarter is basically a situation where those that are involved in transporting or slaughtering cattle for farmers, take the fifth quarter as they feel that they would benefit that way. Normally when the farmers are selling their livestock, they will not be liquid and the transporters or other actors involved take advantage of that and therefore demand the fifth quarter from the farmers,” he said.
“We are engaging to say it is not fair why don’t we work on other strategies for example allow the farmer to have a successful sale including selling the fifth quarter and then work on exactly how much the transport and facilitation fees would be.”
He said as the Government they were 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 byproducts.
The Permanent Secretary said it was important to address the issue at hand with all actors and players involved actively participating in the engagement for successful solutions.
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Bongani Ndlovu