Mwenezi farmer unveils cattle-breeding project
The Herald – 7 September 2010
A white commercial farmer and rancher in Mwenezi, Mr Brine Caywood, has unveiled a cattle-breeding project.
He plans to use the project to donate more than one million artificial insemination doses from hybrid bulls to the local communal farmers over the next 12 months.
Mr Caywood announced the programme in Munyamani resettlement area in Maranda during a South Eastern Growers Association meeting witnessed by the Zanu-PF National Chairman Cde Simon Kaya Moyo on Saturday.
He said at least 150 bulls, each with a capacity to produce 20 000 doses per annum, would be used in the project.
The bulls are at his farm, Lot 21 in Mwenezi and collectively produce three million doses a year.
“I am offering 150 hybrid breeding bulls that will produce artificial insemination doses to improve the quality of livestock in this district,” Mr Caywood said.
Mr Caywood said SEGA would assist with administration and logistical support.
He said Mwenezi had the potential to be a major producer of quality beef if there was unity of purpose and co-operation between established cattle farmers and budding ranchers, especially those who benefitted from the land reform programme.
SEGA Masvingo provincial patron and Zanu-PF secretary for production and labour in the Politburo, Cde Dzikimai Mavhaire, thanked Mr Caywood and challenged farmers to take the offer seriously as it had the potential to transform the quality of their cattle.
He said, “We need to improve the quality of our cattle now that land is in our hands and we have an opportunity to reclaim the traditional status of Mwenezi as a cattle producing area.
“We now have the land and must work on it to our full potential.”
Earlier, Cde Mavhaire had led Cde Kaya Moyo to Rutenga dip tank where the national cattle-breeding programme was officially launched under SEGA.
Besides cattle breeding, SEGA is also involved in promoting production and marketing of cotton, groundnuts and sesame among other crops.