Farmers’ hope restored

February 29, 2016 in National, News

GWANDA farmers’ hope has been revived after the district received meaningful rainfall measuring 50mm last week giving optimism after drought had threatened to wipe out their cattle.

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

More than 300 000 cattle in Matabeleland South province were at risk of being wiped out by drought that hit the region hard this year, but the rains which were received last week restored farmers’ confidence that they will not lose their livestock in numbers.

Farmers who spoke to NewsDay during the media tour organised by Environment Africa last week, said they were now confident that their livestock would not be wiped out as they feared.

“Actually, we are happy because of the showers we received this week (last week). We received about 50mm of rainfall and we are quite happy that our livestock will not succumb to drought as we had feared,” one farmer who identified himself as Ndlovu said.

A small livestock farmer from Sizeze village, Diva Nduna, said since they received meaningful rainfall their small livestock had started showing signs of health.

“The showers we received enabled the vegetation to be green and as a result, the animals are browsing. They (livestock) are still in a state of good health,” Gwanda district Agricultural Extension officer Ben Matshologwane said.

He said in Gwanda district, at least 49 cattle have died due to drought. In the province at least 149 have died.

Matshologwane said should rains continue pouring in the area, farmers would be very safe.

However, farmers lamented that their livestock were fetching very low prices on the market and that was threatening their viability.

“We are now selling our livestock at a very cheap price, something which is very unsustainable. For example, a bull that used to fetch more than $500 is now fetching only $100 or less on the market due to drought. It’s quite worrisome,” one farmer said.

Government has urged farmers to destock to avoid massive loss of their livestock. However, farmers have challenged the government to be realistic by opening up competitive markets like trade fair where they could sell their livestock.