THE rains were furious and late at the onset of the 2019-2020 rain season.  

At night, in flushes of anger and slits of lightning, midnight storms, windy rains and thunder characterised the convection and rain this season.

What does this weather mean for cattle ranchers?

In the heat of November, summer rain such as we are experiencing at present, pests and pestilence are at their highest peak and indigenous rangeland cattle are particularly vulnerable.

During this season, we should not neglect primary veterinary health of our livestock.  

If they are not dipped, vaccinated or greased with anti-tick solutions, Zimbabwe will stand to lose more of its herd.

Certainly, no cattle farmer wants to suffer the indignity of not yielding produce or calving on his/her farm.

Tropical deforestation, mainly for grazing cattle and cropland expansion has created a drier and hotter climate in the tropics.  

Thus, the burden of vector-borne and climate-sensitive diseases is now greatest for the poorest populations, especially in Africa – and Zimbabwe in particular.

Despite massive improvements in the management of livestock, reports continue to filter down to my desk that more cattle have succumbed to death in the various provinces from preventable circumstances.

The MaShona breed, which evolved over thousands of years to adapt to the harsh south-central African climate, are currently succumbing to the onslaught of the brown tick, despite the fact that the MaShona cattle breed is a very mobile breed, requiring little maintenance or supervision 

From the summer of 2017 to the summer of 2018, a report on the state of cattle revealed that the nation lost 50 000 beasts to tick-borne diseases, particularly theileriosis, spread through the bite of the brown ear tick now found in all cattle ranching districts due to lack of preventative vaccines and regular dipping. 

In 1996, the national commercial herd shrunk from 6,5 million to 5,5 million.  

A recent report that came to my attention stated that the national herd is currently slightly over three million.

Taking into consideration statistics from 1980 when our livestock herd stood at 513 000 head and using probability computations, Zimbabwe’s cattle herd at optimal production, all assumptions and projections being normal, should stand at             6 544 000 at the twilight of 2019

Sadly, frequent droughts, inflation, economic volatility and the prevalence of  paltry rain in previous seasons, resulting in poor pastures, have greatly compromised the indigenous cattle’s resilience to diseases.  

Lax disease control systems, land degradation, derelict dips and the lack of a centralised disease reporting system have all also compromised profitable cattle production over the past decade.

While the summer season spells peak farming period for Zimbabwe’s agricultural calendar and the livestock gestation period, erratic water supplies and feeds compromise the herd. 

Grazing land, fodder and water are all basic and essential nutrients for primary livestock sustenance and health that require human intervention for Zimbabwe to yield profitable livestock production.

Our overall national prosperity and socio-economic development cannot be fully realised without a robust livestock section to feed the people and provide socio-economic benefits for the nation.

As we embrace the Command Livestock Programme, financial resources for the containment of diseases and for the comprehensive nourishment of the cattle need to be availed to the cattle industry, in particular the Livestock and Veterinary Services in the Ministry of Lands Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement.

National veterinary services, extension services, nutritional supplements and well-managed pastures need to be incorporated in our agricultural programmes to bolster rural agricultural production and curtail the unwarranted deaths of our herds we are experiencing.

The disease resistant, easy calving and fairly docile MaShona breed has now become evidently susceptible to many diseases.  

There is, therefore, need for close monitoring and supplementary veterinary services to care for our livestock sector judiciously in order for Zimbabwe to achieve a disease-free and healthy national herd in tandem with the required world-standards that Zimbabwe had achieved in the mid-1980s.

The place of livestock farming in the economic matrix of Zimbabwe cannot be understated. 

Special attention should be rightly directed to the communal livestock industry that has currently been ravaged by diseases. 

Affordability and informed stewardship of our livestock should be part of our knowledge base for cattle production to fare well in Zimbabwe, in order to regain its world reputation as was the case in antiquity at Great Zimbabwe where the emperor managed the veld and pastures for optimal cattle production and agriculture as a sustainable food system over centuries.

Cattle breeding should be afforded Government incentives and subsidies to buffer the effects of our volatile economy on our indigenous herd.

Dr Tony Monda holds a PhD in Art Theory and Philosophy and a DBA (Doctorate in Business Administration) and Post-Colonial Heritage Studies. He is a writer, lecturer and a specialist post-colonial scholar, Zimbabwean socio-economic analyst and researcher. For views and comments, e-mail: tonym.MONDA@gmail.com