RANCHING INPUT TO BOOST MATABELELAND?

Cattle ranchers in Matabeleland must have been unable to believe their ears after the media was abuzz last month with news of a $9 million grant from the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) meant for the revival of cattle ranching  in the region, a noble act but could also be taken as a sign that the region now has to depend on foreign helping hands to revive.

The immediate emotional reaction will be jubilation, then it is followed by disappointment that the nation itself is unable to effectively contribute to the growth of the national herd in the Matabeleland region by itself.

 

The EU and FAO grant is specifically meant to boost livestock production in Matabeleland North province, as Zimbabwe battles to rebuild its national herd.

Elmar Sikala, an official in FAO’s livestock department was quoted in The Source, an online publication as having said  the EU grant would help smallholder farmers in Nkayi and Lupane commercialise their operations.

Under the programme Sikhala had said the FAO will be training smallholder farmers on livestock production, rehabilitating dip tanks, holding pens and also installing refrigerators at animal health centres in the two districts.

In the quest to discover if Matabeleland is truly as marginalised as some say it is, one can take some positive remarks from such developments from the donor community which manages to see enough potential in the region to go as far as pouring millions to develop it to collectively benefit the nation as a whole.

However for one to conclude that the region is not marginalised on the basis of its reception of donor funds would be overlooking how the region is lacking adequate support from its own government in order to strengthen its ranching sector. This is because this donor funding for the growth of the national herd in Matabeleland did not just begin in March 2014 but has its history.

For instance, in December, FAO launched a programme to save livestock in Matabeleland South, where farmers were receiving 50kg bags of stock feed per month. The UN agency was also drilling boreholes to ensure water supplies in the cattle ranching province.