CSC, Tongaat Hulett in joint beef venture
GOVERNMENT has revived the Cattle Finance Scheme that will see resettled indigenous commercial cattle farmers countrywide receiving 500 hybrid heifers yearly as part of efforts to improve the quality of the beef herd.
The scheme will be run by the Cold Storage Company in partnership with the private sector.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development (Responsible for Cropping) Cde Paddy Zhanda ( pictured right) yesterday said that the Government wanted to improve the quality of the local herd to make Zimbabwean beef attractive on the export market.
He said Zimbabwe had over 5,3 million cattle, but the thrust should not be on further improving the numbers, but bettering the genetics of the herd and boosting the calving rate that stood at 48 percent.
Cde Zhanda was speaking during the handover of 100 heifers to indigenous cattle farmers sourced through a commercial joint venture between Lowveld sugar cane producer Tongaat Hulett and CSC.
The heifers were given to beneficiaries of the land reform programme mainly from Mwenezi. Tongaat Hulett will be supplying CSC with hybrid cattle for on-lending to indigenous commercial farmers as part of a drive to improve the quality of Zimbabwean beef.
Cde Zhanda said Government would continue assisting local cattle farmers to improve the quality of their cattle.
‘’Our emphasis is really on improving the genetics of our cattle as a way of eco-
nomically empowering our people and today we have given 100 hybrid cattle to farmers mainly in Mwenezi District, but we are also expanding this programme to cover all parts of the country because we are not really concerned about the numbers of the cattle that our farmers have, but the quality so that where you need 10 beasts to produce one tonne of beef you can just slaughter one beast,’’ he said.
‘’We have resuscitated the Cattle Finance Scheme to support our resettled farmers and this is the direction that we are taking to empower our people through improving the genetics of their cattle and the calving rate. We are targeting to give out at least 500 heifers to our new farmers around the country every year from now on,’’ he added.
Deputy Minister Zhanda said Government was keen to resuscitate mothballed CSC plants around the country by reviving Zimbabwe’s once vibrant export beef industry.
However, there was need to intensify efforts to improve the quality of the local herd and set up the requisite infrastructure so that Zimbabwean beef meets the expectations of the international market.
Cde Zhanda hailed the joint venture between Tongaat Hulett and CSC saying such partnerships between Government and the private sector should be replicated in other parts of the country and help Zimbabwe achieve its Zim-Asset goals.
Tongaat Hulett managing director Mr Sydney Mtsambiwa said his company was prepared to continue working with CSC to improve the genetics of the country’s beef herd.
Mr Mtsambiwa said the beef had industry had the potential to earn the country millions of dollars in foreign currency as there were many markets that needed quality beef in the region and beyond.
One of the beneficiaries of the Tongaat Hulett-CSC heifer scheme, Retired Colonel Johannes Masanganise - who is a cattle farmer in Mwenezi -paid tribute to the Lowveld sugar producer for partnering Government in the thrust to improve the quality of the local beef herd.
Rtd Colonel Masanganise decried the appallingly low yield per hectare for most newly resettled cattle farmers in Mwenezi saying the intervention by Tongaat and Government would turn around the fortunes of many struggling farmers.
Ten A2 cattle farmers from Mwenezi each received 10 heifers under the Tongaat-CSC initiative.
The heifers were being kept at Tongaat’s cattle pens at Triangle estates.
Meanwhile, hundreds of villagers in southern parts of Masvingo, whose cattle are on the verge of starvation due to lack of pastures owing to the El Nino-induced drought, have been thrown a lifeline after Tongaat Hulett set aside $2 million to buy the beasts for fattening.
After buying them,Tongaat would condition the drought-affected beasts for a certain period of time at its cattle pens before disposing them on the local and international market through an arrangement with the CSC.
The company has so far bought over 3 000 cattle that were threatened by drought in surrounding communities mainly in Chikombedzi in southern Chiredzi.
Tongaat has state-of-the-art cattle pens that can house over 25 000 cattle and the over 3 000 beasts bought by the company have been undergoing fattening and vaccination since January.
Speaking during a tour of the cattle pens at Triangle estates yesterday, Mr Mtsambiwa yesterday said they were buying the cattle from communal farmers within a 200km radius of Tongaat’s farming and sugar milling operations in Chiredzi and Triangle.
He said the major objective of the ongoing drive was to cushion the villagers from the prevailing drought that has seen vast swathes of pastures being wiped out in most communal areas in the Lowveld.
‘’We have so far bought over 3 000 cattle from villagers within a radius of 200km from here and we have so far paid over $1,8 million to buy the cattle. “Our goal is to save communities around us who otherwise might lose their cattle to the prevailing drought,’’ he said.
Deputy Minister Zhanda said Government was excited by the intervention by Tongaat to buy cattle threatened by drought from villagers in southern Masvingo.
‘’I think the intervention by Tongaat is very good and its a sign of what can be achieved through triple Ps (Public Private Partnerships),’’ he said.
Former Chiredzi South legislator Cde Ailess Baloyi heaped praise on Tongaat for intervening to save villagers who were on the verge of losing their cattle to drought.
Masvingo is one of the provinces hardest hit by the prevailing El Nino- induced drought.
The province lost over 18 000 cattle owing to the prevailing drought, a situation that caused a sharp drop in cattle prices as desperate villagers stampeded to sell their cattle before they succumbed to drought.