Arda herd decimated
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
Thursday, 24 May 2012 12:10
Paidamoyo Muzulu
THE Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (Arda) decimated its beef
herd from an all time high of 36 000 head in 1998 to a paltry 1 062 in 2012
through forced sales to newly resettled A2 farmers when some of its ranches
were parcelled out under the land reform programme, parliament has heard.
Arda acting general manager William Mbona revealed the sorry state of the
ailing authority’s herd when he appeared before the portfolio committee on
Agriculture on Tuesday.
“We sold most of the 36 000 cattle on our farms after some of the estates
were allocated to new farmers,” said Mbona. “Transau Estates, one of our
biggest ranches, was used for resettlement of people from Marange diamond
fields.”
Of the 36 000 cattle, Sesembe had 16 000, Transau 12 000 and Battlefields 6
000. The rest were scattered across other estates countrywide. Mbona added
that revenue realised was insignificant in monetary value since this forced
destocking was carried out during the hyperinflationary Zimbabwe dollar era.
“We did not get a lot of money from either the private and auction sales of
the cattle during (the) destocking exercise since we sold in the valueless
Zimdollars at the height of hyperinflation,” he said.
Arda has been in the spotlight for its involvement in the controversial
Green Fuels project in partnership with Billy Rautenbach in Chisumbanje, as
well as the suspected looting of tractors from Iran by senior officials.
The audit into the tractors is still to be made public six years since it
was instituted. Mbona told the committee that the authority could only be
saved by creating partnerships with other companies to work on its vast
estates.
“The way forward for Arda is smart partnerships, joint ventures and contract
management with private investors. This is the only way if the shareholder
(government) cannot recapitalise the authority,” Mbona said.
Arda is one of the 78 struggling state-owned enterprises which, among
others, include Air Zimbabwe, NetOne, TelOne, the Cold Storage Company,
Agribank and the National Railways of Zimbabwe.