The Chronicle

BULAWAYO, Monday, May 10, 1993 — The Cold Storage Commission has been challenged to give funds to the cattle-producing communities to enable them to manage and rebuild the national herd which was decimated by the drought.

The CSC could use, through local authorities, part of the funds it retains from cattle purchases as levy to build structures that would be used to feed cattle to avoid huge losses that were incurred during the last droughts. The parastatal keeps seven-and-a-half percent of all cattle purchases as levy.

Mr Sifelani Modeme, an executive officer for administration at the Beitbridge District Council, challenged the CSC to disburse the money to cattleproducing areas through councils which would build village feeding pens for the communal herd.

Beitbridge district, where cattle ranching is the only viable form of farming, last year alone lost 33 582 cattle to the drought, “but all this loss could have been avoided if the CSC had put feeding structures in place,” said Mr Modeme.

In his plan, Mr Modeme felt that the money could be used to drill boreholes and digging of wells for the animals.

He charged that producer communities could be educated in animal husbandry from the funds and that CSC should, through other Government agencies like Agritex, hold workshops in the communal areas which have the potential of establishing Zimbabwe as one of the best beef-producing countries in the world.

The parastatal has now decided to sell meat to the public, a move which is likely to strain the parastatal’s relations with the Butchers’ Association of Zimbabwe.