Matabeleland beef production, politics
Now that the grain industry has experienced a resurgence, thanks to good rains in a climate of brilliant Government policy, let the beef industry also be a beneficiary of a pro-producer policy thrust
MATABELELAND South is a province which is attracting attention this year. Like every province, they will host the 21st February Movement celebrations for this year on Saturday.
Coincidentally, today is the President’s Birthday (many happy returns). Later in the year, they will host Zanu-PF’s 17th People’s National Conference. Being a cattle producing province means a lot are already salivating because choice beef cuts are going to be on the plates.
There is a lot of excitement as these events are also used to boost the economy of the hosting province.
From lodges, hotels, vendors, bars, shops and farmers are already in increasing their capacity in anticipa- tion of brisk business.
It was while researching the economic excitement that these two events and their expected long term legacy in the province that cattle farming issues took centre stage.
It immediately became clear that there were brewing issues around cattle marketing in the region and some local leadership and the farming community was not happy.
You see, this region is cattle land. And to interfere with this side of someone’s wealth is to cause a lot of chagrin. Somebody is doing just that. This is the story as told by local leadership spoken to over the expected legacy of the 21st February Movement celebrations and the 17th People’s Conference.
Around April 2015, two heifers in the Bulawayo showgrounds cattle market were found to have foot and mouth disease (FMD) in Matabeleland. An outbreak was rightly declared and the vets suspended all cattle sales at the showground. This suspension was supposed to last for three months before direct sales would resume. But at the end of the three months, the showground were still not opened as a sales point. Anyone who wanted to sell their cattle would have to sell directly from their own pens or paddocks. This exposed the farmers to cattle cartels.
Farmers are not happy. They engaged. A lot of meetings were held including a consultative one held at the pavilion at the showground and the farmers were briefed about the FMD situation and the control. There was an agreement to open the showground in six months if no new cases of outbreaks were found and in any case only clean areas would send their cattle. Those areas which had outbreaks would only gain “clean” status in 18 months from the date of the last known infection. There was a good relationship between all stakeholders and the interfacing was working. Things are said to have taken a bad turn when a Deputy Minister in the Agricultural Ministry weighed in with a rancorous outcome. He is said now to be micro-managing this par- ticular case declared that the showground will only open over his dead body. But now we hear that the primary reason for this is that someone invested heavily in an abattoir in West Nicholson and now a whole region is paying the price for that investment. People can’t be made to suffer for reasons so narrow in scope. And the risk is that Zanu-PF might even be made to pay an electoral price come 2018.
This goes against the grain of the Government policy to develop the livestock industry post-land reform. These actions hamper the growth of this industry to its full potential because the farmers cannot take their stork to the auction floors where they fetch high value. Farmers who work so hard to bring beef production to its best are being exploited. They are now vulnerable to beef cartels and syndicates because they cannot sell their beef to the highest bidder. A limit has been placed on the market options by turning a clear seller’s market into a buyers’ market. In the beef industry in Matabeleland, the normal live weight price is $1,90/kg on average and good breeds fetch as high as $2,30/kg. But because of this permanent restriction, the price is now $1,40/kg. The difference on a 300kg beast is life changing. If there is anything that kills an industry, it is giving uncompetitive prices for its produce. Profitability has always been a determinant of whether an industry grows or not. If we want the beef industry to grow in Matebeleland post-land reform, serious considerations should be made on the secondary reasons behind closing the showground market.
Farmers are not in the industry for altruistic reasons or as a national duty. They are in it for money. And when they are paid poorly, then they will do the alternative. To not open the showground market is to discourage local production as well as to attack the beneficiaries of the land reform. As in all these cases, there are some who always see sinister regional motivation behind such moves.
One local leader spoken to by this columnist immediately asked why the Bulawayo showground market was closed by a Deputy Minister from Mashonaland East while the Mount Hampden auction is left alone? He doesn’t believe this is about FMD. It is way too long after the outbreak. His theory and that of many other silent farmers is that since Matabeleland South is the beef paradise of Zimbabwe, the idea is to hamper the development of this industry so as to stifle development for the region on tribal grounds while exploiting those that are already in beef production. This sounds quite far-fetched. But what are people expected to say when the provincial veterinary doctors have given the all-clear and someone else insists that the showground market will only open over his dead body?
Cattle is a sensitive topic in some regions. It is easy for destructive regional stereotypes to seep into serious national conversations because one person is pursuing a corrupt economic end or playing reckless power games with the local communities. There is likely to be nothing regionalised in this approach by this individual, but neither is there anything progressive about it. In fact, it is classic definition of micro-politics, which is the use of informal and formal power by individuals to achieve their own goals within organisations. Our country is experiencing too much of it and we should not allow the 21st February Movement Celebrations to be blighted by this parochial uses of micro-politics.
There is nothing wrong with implementing a strict veterinary regimen. Our vets are some of the best in the world in managing FMD. In 2001 the UK had to employ their skill when there was an outbreak there. So let everyone including politicians divert to science in making these sensitive judgments. Let us not play games with people’s livelihoods. Zanu-PF is a propoor party.
Access to markets is a pro-poor policy. When cartels employ runners moving around the farms and the countryside offering exiguous amounts for well fed beef, that is exploitative and therefore anti-poor. Farmers need protection from cartels which now include unscrupulous politicians who make policies in their interests and contra the interests of the nation. Nobody should be allowed to whimsically disrupt lives of communities just because they can.
Moving the market away from the people is killing the formal market. There is neither rhyme nor reason for self-serving moves of this nature. For years the cattle market regimen has always been biased against the natives. Here we go again, but this time in an independent Zimbabwe!
We have a situation where our own locals have just transitioned from livestock keepers to livestock farmers and the very people that are supposed to support them are downgrading them back into livestock keepers because they cannot get their stork to the market. If that is not wrong, then what is?
There is no question that strict control and the maintenance of optimum animal health is a good thing. If vets would come out today and say it is unsafe to sell cattle at the Bulawayo showground, showing the science, there would be no problem. And there is also nothing in devolving (decentralisation) of cattle sales as long as it benefits the farmer or producer. But this one is not. Let those who want to go to the showground do so like they do in Mount Hampden. And let those who want to sell to independent abattoirs also do so.
Beef production cannot be rehabilitated if we squeeze out those that have already invested in this. These new producers need the support of the Government. Some have put huge capital investments in buying pure breeds. Nothing stifles advanced cattle husbandry practices such as stalling the market and or simply making it impossible. It is Government responsibility to incentivise farmers. Not to put snags in their pathways. Easy of doing business should also apply to farming.
Markets are always an opportunity. We need leaders who are not aloof, who engage with the people. We cannot block opportunities by exposing our farmers to criminal gangs taking away their cattle for a song.
Now that the grain industry has experienced a resurgence, thanks to good rains in a climate of brilliant Government policy, let the beef industry also be a beneficiary of a pro-producer policy thrust. Let ministers speak with decorum to stakeholders. Sometimes what appears like micro-politics is just a misunderstanding arising from a contemptuous attitude towards stakeholders.