Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 11.5. Major participants/stakeholders in the cattle industry (survey data, 2009).
Stakeholder
Reasons for market participation
Resettled farmers (A1 & A2 farmers)
Participate in public markets as buyers and sellers of heifers and steers for
restocking purposes
Private abattoirs
Buy livestock for resale to their clients. Some abattoirs do export the meat
products
Private butcheries
Most butcheries buy cattle for slaughter for their local market
Supermarkets
Normally buy cattle products from abattoirs or slaughtered livestock directly
from farmers
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP)
For verification and clearance of cattle sold at the market to avoid trading of
stolen livestock
Veterinary department
Check the health status of all livestock at the auction. Works with the police in
clearing all sold cattle
District council
Coordinates public auctions through scheduling dates, registering market
participants and contacting market participants before auction dates
Resettled small scale farmers (A1
farmers) and communal farmers
Attend auctions as sellers of cattle to various buyers at the auction. Few of
them buy cattle from auction, but instead prefer farmer to farmer trading for
restocking purposes
Local district governing authorities were not active in cattle trading, whose involvement
early 2000, as a way to generate revenue for the cash-strapped councils. Before 2000,
Mwenezi Rural District Councils only received cattle levies annually from farmers within
the district, but of late a levy of 7.5% of gross purchases is collected from traders at auctions.
The impact of a multiple stakeholder involvement (Table 11.5) on market bureaucracy,
efficiency and transactions costs needs further scrutiny. In general, such a structure has a
direct negative or positive impact on market prices (Table 11.6), depending on the policies
and coordination mechanisms governing such a market structure.
An overview of cattle prices in Mwenezi District showed that farmers were getting less than
the prices indicated in Table 11.6. Figures of the public cattle auction conducted on 2 nd
April, 2009 indicated that the average weight of marketed cattle was 350kg for which an
average price of R2 630 was paid. This translates to an average live weight price of R7.51/
kg (US$1.00/kg). It is however important to note that the auction was purely dominated
by cattle traders and middlemen who procured cattle for sale at the prices depicted on Table
11.6. Retail prices are expected to be considerably higher that the figures in Table 11.6.
Farmers were found to lose considerably by not directly sending their livestock to abattoirs.
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