Relief for farmers as government bans household selling of livestock
By Desire Tshuma
Zimbabwe is faced with the worst drought experienced in the past 40 years and hence the declaration of the state of national disaster by President Emerson Mnangagwa.The government has banned selling of livestock at household level by unscrupulous buyers commonly known as “makoronyera “who buy at low price taking advantage of the drought threat.
The results of the second crop and livestock assessment held in April (CLAFA2) indicate drinking water availability for up to 9 months in the good areas and up to 3 months in the worst affected areas. The assessment also established that during 2023/24 lean El Nino season the drier parts of the country had about 2 882 710 cattle of which 1 488 523 were said to be at risk. For this reason, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development has developed a myriad of livestock drought mitigation strategies in order to prevent losses in all livestock species.
Among the mitigation strategies geared mainly at the livestock in the most vulnerable provinces which include Masvingo, Matebeleland South and North, Midlands and parts of Manicaland, government is creating Village Business Units at ward level in order to assist farmers realize the best value for their animals during sales.
“One of the coping strategies farmers are resorting to is panic sells ,in response to this, the government has declared no sells to be conducted at household level but through the ward based business units cattle sell pens ” said Hon Deputy Minister Haritatos . Deputy Minister Haritatos went on to say that the government has facilitated the development of a model that will be applied to all the business units in the country.”
In order to ensure success of sells at business units, the government will coordinate the ward based sales and bring in buyers including abbatoir operators ” explained Deputy Minister Haritatos.
Other services that will be offered at Village Business Units include fodder production,feed formulation and processing facilities, establishment of watering points for livestock, livestock holding and feeding lot facilities and all these will be supported by multi purpose solar powered boreholes that will be drilled at the sites.