This very important social and economic asset is, regrettably dying in thousands in some parts of the country due to drought.  Our sister paper, Sunday News reported yesterday that 4 539 head of cattle have died in Matabeleland South due to lack of pasture and drinking water this year. 

Statistics that the paper obtained from the Department of Livestock and Veterinary Services in the province showed that the worst affected district is Beitbridge where 1 057 cattle have since succumbed to drought. The second worst affected is Insiza where 918 cattle have died while 600 have been lost in Gwanda. In Matobo, 524 have died and 498 succumbed in Mangwe while the least affected is Umzingwane where 330 cattle have been lost.

“It has been the national herd that has been affected. We have a situation whereby livestock is dropping like flies,” said the chairman of Livestock Farmers’ Trade Union, Mr Sifiso Sibanda. 

“In Matabeleland large numbers of animals are dying while this is the beef basket of the country. No one is doing anything to help the farmers and after this season farmers will be left impoverished and they won’t be able to recover. . . . Most animals are not only succumbing to drought but to diseases worsened by the poor health and the poor diet. Vaccines, a dosage is going for $400. Some of these farmers have no any other source of income. Imagine a litre of dipping chemicals costs $800 and how many can afford this. A single bag of stockfeed is $400 and that cannot even last for a week.”

It is sad that farmers have lost so many cattle, so much wealth, over the past 10 months in just one province. We are sure that the southern part of Masvingo Province, whose climatic conditions are similar to Matabeleland South’s, has lost some animals too, the same for southern Manicaland and Midlands provinces.  Matabeleland North may have been affected as well, especially its drier districts such as Hwange, Kusile, Binga, Nkayi and Tsholotsho.

These areas are drought-prone and as such cattle deaths are common.

Since it is known that the southern half of the country is susceptible to drought we urge cattle owners to be always alert and make sure they are ready to protect their cattle, their wealth rather, from drought.        

One way for them to ensure they don’t lose their livestock is to always stock cheaper supplementary feed. They don’t have to spend much money in this as they can simply stack maize stalks which they can feed their animals on when their pastures deplete. We appreciate that this traditional practice is useful only if the lack of pasture is over a few months but it indeed makes a difference in desperate situations. 

Another measure that farmers can take is for them to build on the sense of community in rural Zimbabwe by pooling their resources together to establish small feedlots. We know that our people in rural areas are a closely knit society.  They eat together, work together and fight together. We are of the opinion that if they work together to develop and implement strategies to defend their herds from thirst and hunger by putting in place community cattle feeding points that can help a great deal. This should be easy given the aforementioned sense of community in our rural areas.  

Working together also, they can contribute money, on a pro-rata basis of course depending on the number of cattle each one of them has, to be better able to buy hay or other stockfeed for their animals from places that would still be having grass.  Having done that, they can collectively pay for transport to their farms or homes to feed their cattle.  

In saying this, we know that there are financial implications. However, any person who has some cattle, whatever their number, is in a position to raise money by selling a small portion of their herd to be able to spend the money raised on saving the rest of the herd.  

This suggests the often-contentious issue of destocking. As cattle are a source of wealth and pride, some in rural areas tend to be reluctant to sell any of them.  They have that attachment to their livestock.  However, that attachment will count for nothing if the cattle they love so much get killed by lack of pasture and drinking water. 

Therefore, we urge farmers in Matabeleland South and elsewhere in the country not to hesitate to destock to be able to raise money to feed the remaining animals instead of keeping large herds that end up starving to death.