Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
11.5.5 Cattle levies
All cattle buyers in Mwenezi District are charged 7.5% levy of gross purchases, which is
payable to the council. This amount is normally paid on the auction date, but where buyers
convene a private auction without the knowledge of the district council, a flat fee of R150/
animal is charged to the buyers. An understanding of the impact of the cattle levy will be
helpful for formulating policies on cattle marketing. Though cattle levies are paid by the
buyer at auction level, the ultimate offer price is affected by the levy. Buyers bid less for cattle
so as to reduce the total levies to be paid to the council after the purchases. This directly
affects the farmers' revenue by depriving him/her a potentially high bidding price if the
buyers were not directly taxed.
11.6 Policy focus
The empirical evidence of the impact of Zimbabwe's Fast Track Land Reform Programme
(FTLRP) on maize, cotton and cattle markets and market relationships gives important
ground work for future policy formulation in Zimbabwe and other developing countries
in similar circumstances. In order to achieve this objective, it became necessary to broaden
the analysis to cover variables that could have directly been affected by FTLRP such as
market participation, extension availability, market availability, market access support,
road condition, market distance and several other socio-economic variables implicated
in market access and channel choice. It is clear from the results that Zimbabwe's FTLRP
was characterized by high volatility and uncertainties from which immense lessons can be
drawn to ensure successful future land reform programs in the country and for countries in
the process of reforming their agricultural and economic sectors.
Without a doubt, the FTLRP in Zimbabwe has led to far-reaching changes in markets and
market relationships, and has exerted considerable influence on the levels and patterns of
agricultural production especially on commercial products like cotton and cattle. Land
variables such as ownership, fertility and satisfaction with existing land have been shown
to be important in maize, cotton and cattle marketing. It therefore can be argued that
land reform, when properly organized, can be an effective instrument for incorporating
emerging farmers into profitable commodity markets. But the evidence from the analysis
is that land-related assets need to be augmented by infrastructural investments even at
household levels. This probably explains the significant effects predicted for such variables
as ownership of plough, planters, scotch carts and granaries in terms of farmers' market
participation. FTLR beneficiaries among small-scale farmers have significantly invested in
these structures but it is clear that government and institutional support is required to boost
their already noticeable efforts. Such assets improve productivity and efficiency which leads
ultimately to an increase in market participation by farmers.
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