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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, [email protected]

TO cope with the negative effects of climate change on their livestock, a vital source of income for many households, farmers in Zimbabwe’s southern region are scaling up their production of fodder.

Amid the increasing incidents of drought and the subsequent depletion of pastures, coupled with the outbreak of livestock diseases in recent years, more farmers are at risk of losing their cattle, which also affects national economic performance given the close linkage of agriculture to the wider economic value chain.

Through close collaboration between the farmers, the Government and other partners, Zimbabwe is increasingly embracing fodder production and farmers in the southern region see this as a game changer in growing the sector and enhancing resilience against shocks such as climate change. 

Fodder production entails growing a high-yielding annual or perennial crop to feed animals. The practice can be done to supply animal feed in both intensive and extensive livestock production systems. 

A variety of fodder crops are available for farmers to choose from, depending on the available resources, climatic conditions, season and required usage.

By increasing fodder production for their use, farmers also expect the intervention to ease the cost of buying feed from shops, which will impact positively on downstream industries and in terms of final product price competitiveness. 

Prominent commercial cattle farmer from Esigodini, Umzingwane District in Matabeleland South, Mr Obert Chinamo, is among the champion feed producers in the region. 

With over 50 hectares of land dedicated to growing crops and fodder, he says he was not losing sleep over the projected El-Nino-induced low rains as he was able to produce feed for his cattle.

Mr Chinamo has put 2,5 hectares of land under drought-resistant “Lab Lab” and “Velvet” bean crops while nine hectares have been put under sweet select sorghum, which is imported from Argentina but readily available locally as fodder. The other 40 hectares is dedicated to the Catambora (Rhodes) grass.

Mr Chinamo also has pockets of Sudan Sorghum crop, which he is growing for commercial seed production but says this is ideal for small-scale communal farmers as it is a permanent pasture that only needs to be planted once and takes less than two months to mature. 

He is expecting to harvest close to 25 tonnes of Sudan Sorghum this year. Mr Chinamo acknowledged that during drier months most farmers face both feed quantity and quality from the rangelands, yet the ranges are the prime source of herbivore animal nutrition. 

Hence fodder production has come in handy as a cheaper and more effective option for survival feeding, nutrition supplementation and on-farm rations.

“Europe and America have severe weather conditions yet there is massive beef production. It’s all because they have food bunkers for their livestock but back here, we still rely on our livestock going food hunting in the bush for survival,” said Mr Chinamo. 

“As a country, we can ensure food security for our livestock by taking fodder production seriously. 

“It is a matter of fact, cheaper to produce food for our livestock than to buy from the shops.”

Other established commercial farms in the region such as diversified Mary Ellen in Bubi District in Matabeleland North and dairy producer Sedgemoor near Solusi University are also producing their feed with more indigenous farmers adopting the model.

Mr Chinamo said part of the reason why colonial British settlers strongly resisted the Land Reform Programme was because they were aware of what was about to slip away from them.

 

“Whites never bought feed for their cattle, they produced their own and made money from livestock but we are doing the opposite. We do not have to lose our livestock to drought,” he said.

“I for one can safely declare that my cattle are safe from the El Nino effect because I have enough food from the fodder production project, something, that every livestock farmer, commercial or communal can and must do. 

“For  our communal farmers, they can apportion a small piece of their food crop-land and grow fodder for their livestock.”

Mr Chinamo said he expects to harvest about 30 tonnes per hectare of both Lab and Velvet bean, which will be enough to feed 75 cattle for 90 days under pen-feeding, which  is done under confinement to prevent loss of energy through movement.

“Because we are not going to be pen-feeding but doing supplementation feeding where we will be giving the cattle around 5kg per day, which means it will last longer. The whole idea is to have as much fodder as possible,” said Mr Chinamo.

Last week Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Dr Anxious Masuka conducted a tour of Dendairy Farms in Kwekwe, Midlands Province where he hailed the production of the Lucerne plant for dairy cattle feeding as part of measures to reduce the cost of production and make milk products accessible to ordinary people. 

This comes as the Second Republic has already introduced other interventions like the heifer project aimed at capacitating farmers to boost output and meet the annual target of 130 million litres of milk by 2025.

In a related development, Matabeleland North director for Agricultural Advisory and Rural Development Services, Mr Dumisani Nyoni, has said that in the event of challenges with pastures due to drought communal farmers should consider trimming their older stock and invest more in preserving the younger and productive herd.

“It is better for the farmer to slaughter the older beasts and raise income to save the younger ones. Through such means like buying feed or seeds for fodder production it is better than losing the beast through drought, which will not give you any reward,” said Mr Nyoni.