On-farm feed critical in sustaining national herd
CATTLE farmers, even at the small scale, can grow their own forage and mix up some of their own supplementary feed to keep their herd in good shape during winter and dry periods.
Farmers are being encouraged to invest in sustainable intensive forage production as it is critical to sustain livestock and minimise over-reliance on commercial feeds.
The strategy uses climate-smart feed options growing lab lab, velvet beans, lucerne, katambora, teff grass, silver lift and star grass with many other forage crops also available.
The costs of commercial feeds is high, hence the need to embrace on-farm feed formulations that are accessible at a lower cost.
Speaking at Vista Farm at Muderere pasture and mechanisation field day in Mvurwi, Permanent Secretary for Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development John Basera described the model as sustainable, saying on-farm feed formulations will reduce the cost of feeds when pastures in dry and winter periods are low quality and some may be affected by veld fires in dry periods.
Dr Basera said on-farm feed formulations are critical in sustaining livestock.
He encouraged farmers to adopt the climate-resilient technologies as advised by researchers and extension experts.
Dr Basera gave the example of a youthful farmer Trymore Muderere, a farm owner who grows a variety of forage grasses to stock enough feed for his livestock.
“I am really impressed that we saw some climate-smart feed options, pasture and forage options here but we are also promoting own on-farm feed formulations, especially at farm levels. It is very critical that we avert the deaths and closing the viability gap. It is not really sustainable for a livestock farmer to always go and buy feed, so farmers should do their own feed formulations so that we close that viability gap so as to improve on productivity and profitability levels,” he said.
He urged smallholder farmers to add supplementary feeding as part of drought mitigation response strategies to alleviate cattle deaths during dry seasons.
He added that smallholder cattle farmers were prone to cattle poverty deaths during the dry season, as both feed quality and quantity are compromised in this period
Some areas are prone to dry spells due to poor rainfall patterns, which negatively affect both cropping and livestock production.
Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Mashonaland Central Senator Monica Mavunga said the initiative will help to improve nutrition feed and security.
“Here the farmer is largely depending on formulated feeds for his cattle and goats. Government has introduced the Livestock Recovery Growth Plan which centres on key pillars such as animal nutrition, genetic improvement, small stock production and climate adaptation,” she said.
Livestock play a fundamental role in addressing food and nutrition security as a source of animal protein.
It also contributes towards ending hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition, and improving livelihoods.