Command Livestock registration begins

GOVERNMENT has started registering farmers who will benefit from the Command Livestock scheme in Beitbridge district, the district agriculture extension officer Mr Masauso Mawocha has said.

Mr Masauso yesterday said that registration started at the beginning of this month and so far they had registered 444 farmers.

“Registration is open for communal, A1 and A2 farmers,” said Mr Mawocha

“The programme covers cattle breeding (bulls, heifers and breeding cows), cattle fattening and small stocks including poultry, piggery, goats and sheep.

“Soon after registration we will embark on a verification exercise to ascertain if the intended beneficiaries have the requisite infrastructure and capacity for the sector they have shown an interest in”.

He said registration was being done at the district agriculture extension offices. He said they were also in the midst of identifying farmers willing to sell heifers for distribution to other beneficiaries and so far one commercial farmer had put forward 21 heifers.

Mr Mawocha said most of the farmers had expressed an interest in cattle breeding.

“We have also identified nine farmers who are ready to supply bulls for breeding. As a district we are hopeful that the Command Livestock programme will be a great success like the previous cropping initiative.

“This season we put 21 hectares under maize and 130 hectares under wheat under Command Agriculture. Planting of wheat is currently underway.

“In the previous year we had 166 hectares put under maize with farmers delivering 123,245 tonnes to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB). A total of 336,143 tonnes of wheat were also delivered to GMB in the same year,” said Mr Mawocha.

Beitbridge district is a drought prone area where animal husbandry and irrigation farming are the main source of livelihoods for communal farmers.

It is estimated that there are 200 000 cattle, 145 000 goats, 60 000 sheep, 37 000 donkeys, 2 000 pigs and 28 000 poultry in the district.