Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
in new areas, contributed to this situation. One communal farmer indicated that he is
currently left with only six heads of cattle for draught power, and the bulk of his cattle were
given to relatives and friends who benefited from the FTLRP for safe keeping and good
grazing. In return such recipients would benefit through draught power, milk and manure
for the fields. Such relationships between the fast track land reform beneficiaries and their
communal counterparts make it difficult to conclude on the independent dominance of
land reform beneficiaries' on productivity and marketing of produce. A comparative study
of the two land holdings, that is communal and resettlement, will provide more insights
into such movement of cattle between the two farming communities.
As noted by Mavedzenge et al. (2008) in Marongwe, (2008), households owning cattle
averaged 49.2% across communal sites and 52.1% across the A1 sites of Southern Zimbabwe.
The study also noted that restocking in the new A1 resettlement schemes was continuing,
with more cattle being transferred from communal to resettlement areas. However, the
study notes that, as is the situation in communal areas, many herds in the A1 resettlement
schemes were still low enough not to allow the putting together of a span of cattle for
cultivation. As such, many of the households still depended on hired draught power, like
those without cattle at all.
11.5.3 Farmer to farmer trading
This is dominant among small scale farmers, both newly resettled and communal farmers.
The channel has been dominated by barter trading especially between 2000 and 2008,
where farmers experienced erratic rains and poor harvests and continuing cash constraints.
Farmers used their livestock to exchange for food. Some farmers have also used this channel
to maintain their breeds in the area by selling their cattle to neighbours.
11.5.4 Cattle rustling
Cattle rustling, or the act of stealing cattle as part of organized raids has been on the
increase in Mwenezi District. This practice which has been going on for centuries among
pastoralists without any connotation of criminality is now seen as destructive of local
economies and has become quite dangerous as cattle owners have devised less traditional
means of protecting themselves and their livestock (Eavis, 2002). But it is a sign of how
desperate the food situation is that cattle rustling is growing nonetheless. In the Mwenezi
District, as in other parts of Zimbabwe, his has resulted in a thriving informal market for
cattle. Unofficial sources claim that cattle from Matebeleland North and Bulawayo went to
Zambia and Botswana, while those from Mwenezi District were destined for Mozambique.
More so, unverified information also alleges that former large scale white farmers were
paying people to move their cattle to neighbouring countries soon after the onset of Fast
Track land reform programme, which has a negative effect on the size of the national herd.
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