Command Livestock set to boost national herd

THE Special Maize Production Programme has been a roaring success. The scheme, commonly known as Command Agriculture has contributed immensely to the huge cereal harvest expected this year, estimated at around 2, 7 million tonnes. After many years of poor harvests and the resultant food insecurity, the Government took a decision in August last year to mobilise resources to support farmers across the country to grow maize. The initial target was to spend $500 million to grow the staple on 400 000 hectares of land, with special focus on farmers who have irrigation facilities. A ministerial statement issued in early February said about $253 million had been spent planting 153 000 ha of land under maize.

It is indeed looking good this year. The Government has already stopped maize imports and has indicated that it would not issue any permits for that purpose this year.

This has been made possible by the Government’s support to farmers not only through the Command Agriculture programme but also through the Presidential Well Wishers Input Scheme.

Given the success of the command concept on maize, the Government has put in motion a plan to widen the approach to other crops such as wheat. About $140 million has already been mobilised for the winter wheat programme which started this month. The target is to plant 70 000 ha under the cereal with funding made available by private companies. Sakunda Holdings, which provided the bulk of the funding for maize will fund 50 000 ha of wheat. By early last month 41 312 ha had been offered to 1 457 farmers.

As the Government intensifies activities on the basis of the command approach to reviving the country’s agriculture sector and boost food security, the livestock sector has now been included as well. The response in terms of funding and farmer participation has been as tremendous.

The livestock sector has been largely ignored as the Government and its partners have tended to focus on crops, particularly maize, tobacco and, to some extent, cotton. Those involved in animal husbandry were left to fend for themselves. As such they were justified in feeling neglected.

Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made was quoted by our sister paper, at the weekend saying that at least six countries have made inquiries on how they can help Zimbabwe revive its livestock sector as part of the Command Livestock Programme.

“All these enquiries coming from China, Russia, France, Poland and the Middle East have to do with the resuscitation of our livestock sector. Of the matter arising from these inquiries is the resuscitation of our abattoirs, then there is the desire by Italy, France, Russia and the Middle East to put up state-of-the-art abattoirs because we have to enter the European market so we need to meet international standards first.

“In the bilateral agreements we had with Namibia, Namibia has put a request that we look at their livestock. So we are going to be sharing mutual agreements with Namibia as well as Botswana aimed at developing our livestock sector. Namibia has special breeds of goat and beef we need,” he said.

Farmers, especially those in Masvingo Province and Matabeleland region must be pleased, as we also are, that the Government is coming up with a targeted initiative for them too. The old promaize agenda gave undue preferential treatment to the crop as if other farm produce are not just as important.

Through this, we expect the national cattle herd to recover from the current estimated strength of 5, 6 million to its historical high of above six million. But we are mindful of the fact that herd size is not the only priority – herd quality in terms of genetics, calving rates and physical size of the animals are equally important.

We expect some of the command support to be channelled towards building or rehabilitating infrastructure such as dipping facilities, establishment and strengthening of markets in remote areas, skills training and the like.

Dr Made made it clear that the mistake that has been made of investing all the national resources into one area ignoring others will not be repeated. He said other livestock would be covered including smaller stock such as rabbits, chickens and so on instead of focusing only on cattle.

As attention is widened to other areas of the agriculture sector, it is important for the Government and its partners to draw lessons from the challenges that were faced with regard to maize this past season. There are reports that some farmers received inputs late or in smaller amounts than necessary, which compromised production.

However, we will not complain much on this as we know that the time between the conception of the command system and its execution was short. As such the hiccups that occurred were not unexpected in the circumstances.

Now that there has been a longer period between conception and execution in terms of wheat and livestock we look forward to a seamless situation and far much better outcomes.