Småbønderne står for 3/4 af landets kødleverancer, men det tjener de ikke synderligt på – det gør handelsmændene, som opkøber dyrene, eller slagterierne, der aftager og forarbejder dem – handelsmand fortæller, hvordan han har tjent en mindre formue.
HARARE, 4 September 2013 (IRIN): Smallholder farmers have become the main suppliers of Zimbabwe’s beef industry, in the wake of the government’s fast-track land redistribution programme, which displaced the majority of white ranchers starting in 2000.
According to Eddie Cross, a commercial farmer and agricultural researcher, over three million of the estimated five million cattle that comprise the national herd are owned by smallholder farmers, and their animals account for about 75 percent of the local beef industry.
However, most of the profits generated by the industry are benefiting traders and abattoirs (slagterier) rather than the farmers, who are able to maintain only small herds, selling off one or two animals at a time when needed.
“The farmers do not sell for profit, but it is their respective sales, when combined, that explain the relative stability of the [beef] industry,” said Cross.
Smallholder sales
Jairos Dzikiti, 47, a smallholder farmer from Murewa, some 130 km northeast of Harare, the capital, keeps about 12 cattle on communal land (fællesjord) and sells them only to meet pressing needs.
About two weeks ago, he sold a bull for 350 US dollar (ca. 1.950 DKR) to one of the traders who occasionally visit the area scouting for livestock.
He made the sale to raise money for his three children’s school fees (skolepenge), and set aside the remainder to buy fertilizer and seed (såsæd) in preparation for the main farming season.
Like most others in the village, his family struggles to afford basic commodities, such as sugar, cooking oil (madolie) and salt, and survives on two meals a day.
“I do not rear the cattle for profits and sell only when there is need,” said Dzikiti, adding:
“I would rather sell the milk that I get from the cows than think of building a house or setting up a grocer’s shop from money from [selling] my cattle.”
He also keeps his herd to use as draught power (forspænd), even though his harvest has diminished over the years and he has very little surplus to sell from his fields.
Traders’ profits
Wonder Chabikwa, president of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union (ZCFU), told IRIN that cattle dealers, abattoirs and butcheries were the main beneficiaries of the local beef industry.
“In reality, it is not the smallholder farmers who come out with obvious gains, but those to whom the cattle are sold”, Chabikwa told IRIN.
“Some of these people have actually made fortunes by regularly buying from those that want to sell, and the sources of cattle are plenty and steady considering that individual farmers feel the need to sell at different times,” noted he.
He added that traders who visit communal areas to buy cattle offered low prices to farmers.
Made a fortune
Clever Sibanda, 30, from Harare, has made a modest fortune from buying cattle from smallholder farmers in Mashonaland Central and East provinces and selling them to abattoirs in the capital.
“Every week, I manage to buy an average of five beasts that I sell at abattoirs in Harare. Most of the farmers sell to me for 300 US dollar and the abattoirs pay me according to the net weight of the cattle; I make at least 200 dollar profit per beast,” Sibanda told IRIN.
After four years in the cattle trading business, Sibanda has managed to buy a five-ton truck, which he uses to collect the cattle, and has built a house in Harare.
Some smallholder farmers sell their cattle directly to abattoirs, while others take their animals to auctions that are held periodically, but irregularly, around the country.
The majority of farmers, however, sell to traders at lower prices than they would get from auction houses or abattoirs, to avoid the cost and inconvenience of transporting their cattle.
Commercial farming constrained
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http://www.irinnews.org/report/98693/zimbabwe-s-beef-industry-brings-few-gains-for-farmers
