Lupane Cattle Rangers to Scale Up
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Hardy cattle herds have long been the indigenous bank for Lupane’s smallholder ranchers.
More than 100, 000 cattle provide the lifeline for most families in the semi-arid and drought-prone district of Matabeleland North.
However, the ranchers hardly ever withdraw from their “indigenous accounts,” seldom selling or slaying their beasts, rather taking pride in growing their herds.
This has lately proven costly as a series of dry spells and diseases are decimating the cattle and forcing them up for sale at a pittance.
Against this background, Lupane ranchers have moved to take production to a commercial, and maximise profitability, by rehabilitating obsolete deep tanks, feed lots and boreholes.
A new sale pen where Bulawayo abattoirs fortnightly outbid each other for the best beasts in Lupaka, a ward in Lupane, crowns the commercialisation effort.
Mkosi dip-tank administrator Smart Ndlovu told Herald Features that farmers have moved to realise a livelihood out of their herds instead of just rearing for prestige.
“The work has been on beginning 2013 and we are starting to see the rewards. Most cattle were in poor health, some died and could not fetch much for the farmers,” Ndlovu said.
“Since the rehabilitation of the dip-tank, cattle can dip regularly and the incidence of tick-borne diseases has decreased,” he said.
Ndlovu said the rehabilitation of infrastructure in Lupaka, a ward in Lupane, is being co-ordinated and sponsored by the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN and Leveraging Economic Assistance for the Disadvantaged (LEAD).
“As villagers, we also contributed resources and labour to the rebuilding exercise. We brought the poles and participated in the construction.
“That way we feel a sense of ownership and responsibility. Even if organisations helping us leave, we know this thing is ours. We will continue managing it for the good of our families,” Ndlovu said.
Research by FAO says smallholder farmers own 92 percent of the 5.2 million national cattle herd, 80 percent of the 3 million goats and 600, 000 sheep and 100 percent of the 372, 000 donkeys.
Lupane and Nkayi, both districts of Matebeleland North in Natural Region 4 account for a significant part of this livestock population with a 194, 000 cattle, 61, 000 goats, 8, 600 sheep and 27, 000 sheep combined.
The newly rehabilitated dip-tank is in Janjanja, the feed lot is in Gomoza and the cattle sale in Mbokodo, villages of Lupaka ward in Lupane.
“The rehabilitation of infrastructure has helped improve the quality of our herds, and to protect our livestock from disease and starvation,” Ndlovu said.
“Previously, our cattle were not fetching much on the market because of the unfavourable conditions in which they were reared but these efforts are now turning everything around. We can now afford to give our children better lives,” he said.
LEAD programmes manager Lucia Mwanyisa told Herald Features that the idea of the feed lot is for farmers to add nutritional value to their livestock so that they can fetch a higher price on the market.
“Livestock production has always been an integral part of Lupane but it was not being done on a commercial scale. Farmers liked their herds big. Most of them would take pride in growing large herds instead of selling some heads for profit,” Lupaka said.
She explained that the downside of tending herds without a commercial motive is that farmers are prone to huge losses in the wake of changing climate patterns.
“It is better to sell a beast for a good price and use the money to take care of the rest with feed and vaccines.
“We have made strategic links with Bulawayo abattoirs and butcheries such Heads and Hooves to help farmers commercialise their cattle so that they can cash in on their efforts,” Mwanyisa said.
She said her organisation has made an agreement with National Foods to provide feed for the livestock. Under the scheme, each farmer pays $100 to have their beast in the feed pen for a week.
“That way the live mass of the beast goes up and the price increases. In a recent case, a beast for which the highest bidder had offered $700 was brought to the feed pen by the unsatisfied farmer,” Mwanyisa said.
“When it went back for sale two weeks later, it was bought for $1, 100 – a $400 difference. That is $300 profit, having subtracted the cost of entering the beats at the feed for one week,” she said.
“We have two methods of selling at the auction. Farmers either sell to directly to abattoirs or to private buyers, but the idea is for the farmer to get maximum benefit for their pains. This is the only livelihood there is for most people here, hence the need to beneficiate it.
A rancher in Mbokodo Jane Mpofu said “Previously, farmers would be taken advantage of by middlemen who would buy cattle at a very low price, sometimes because some of the farmers only sold out of emergency, such as a family illness and school fees.”
“The cattle sale here (at Mbokodo) gives farmers direct access to final buyers, therefore doing away with manipulation. If the cattle can be fattened to the market standard, then we can engage directly and get the best for our livestock,” Mpofu said.
“There are ten to twenty farmers selling here every week. That money goes a long way in empowering them to take care of their families,” she said.
LEAD field officer Lord Goodman Ncube said the fight against tick-borne diseases and undernourishment has proven to be gainful and sustainable.
“Farmers were losing out because infrastructure has been dilapidated for years and no one was really calculating the cost,” Ncube said.
“When we first rallied villagers to participate in the rehabilitation of the dip-tank and the building of the feed lot and sale pen, we met resistance.
“That time people did not see any incentive of participating in an NGO programme which had no handouts to offer,” he laughed.
“It took several more discussions for the farmers to see what was in it for them. It has worked and we have since sustained this fruitful relationship with the Lupaka community,” Ncube said.
“It is not just about the fortnightly auctions. Sometimes farmers pool their resources together, hire a tuck and take their beasts to Bulawayo for sale,” he said.
“The market is there in Bulawayo. Smallholder farmers just had to be pro-active. They needed to work together so that they have a voice instead of being at the mercy of middlemen.
As to whether the new development was not jeopardising the livelihood of cattle traders, Ncube said the idea was not to shut out middlemen but to bring smallholder farmers to their level.
“We acknowledge that middlemen are also entitled to their trade and we are not saying we are against them. We want to add value to the chain, to give farmers a voice, rule out manipulation and enable fair practice,” Ncube said.
The project being co-ordinated by FAO in both Lupane and Nkayi is aimed at enhancing food security and increasing the resilience of livelihoods in the face of changing climate patterns.
“Cattle herds have a great potential to make a significant contribution to food, nutrition and income security in the province,” FAO spokesperson Leonard Makombe said.
“The initiatives on the ground are aimed at improving productivity and, all said, improving the livelihoods of the families. We are working with Agritex and LEAD on the ground,” Makombe said.
European Union and FAO are funding the livestock projects in the two districts from 2013 to 2017.
Value addition projects on the ground also include, an early warning system for disaster preparedness, provision of vaccines and dipping chemicals and extension support.