1.

Discuss the constraints to livestock sector development in Zimbabwe and

give possible ways to alleviate them (25)

Livestock production is an important component of agricultural activities in developing

countries like Zimbabwe. It is the most important agricultural activity in most of the countries
in southern Africa. Livestock are kept for various uses including draught power, milk, meat,
eggs and various cultural uses. They compliment cropping activities through the provision of
manure for soil fertility maintenance, draught power for cultivation, transport, cash and food.
Livestock play an important role in these farming systems, as they offer opportunities for risk
coping, farm diversification and intensification, and provide significant livelihood benefits.
This brings in another important dimension of integrated crop-livestock farming which is the
predominant system of production and subsistence in essentially all communal farming
systems.

Household livestock holdings vary from a few to a hundred heads per household with varying
ratios of cattle (Bos taurus), donkeys (Equus asinus), and goats (Capra hircus). These
production systems are generally characterised by low productivity. For instance, the
productivity of bovines is about 15 kg meat per person per year in developing countries
versus 79 kg in the developed world . Livestock production in communal areas in Zimbabwe
is constrained by a variety of factors.

Feed shortages during the dry season constitute the greatest challenge in terms of quantity
and quality (Masikati 2010). According to Kassam and co-workers (2009), the main
constraint to increasing livestock productivity and output is the lack of adequate supplies of
good quality livestock feed in the dry season produced at a competitive cost and without
jeopardizing household food security.

Together with high incidences of diseases and mortality rates, feed shortages lead to low
livestock productivity (Masikati 2010). Unavailability of water is another common constraint.
In some areas, water may be available but is of insufficient quality to support healthy growth
and performance. Masikati (2010) reported that water constraints were prevalent during the
dry season, where animals had to walk distances of up to 14 km per day to access water for
instance in Buhera Manicaland province . Water points are sometimes limited and large
numbers of animals use the same points leading to high chances of spreading diseases and
land degradation.

Peeling and Holden (2004) point to the failure of government services to provide veterinary
health services. Other factors include poor housing, low soil fertility for forage production
and weak market chains for livestock and livestock products. These constraints are, however,
within farmers capacity to mitigate (Masikati 2010). The aim of this study was therefore to
identify and catalogue constraints and opportunities for increasing livestock productivity in
communal areas of Zimbabwe.

Some of the livestock farmers depending on natural veld as the major source of feed for their
livestock while other species could scavenge around the yard. Commercial chicken (broiler)
producers used the intensive system of production where feed was either bought informulated
based on commercial concentrates. All other poultry species utilized both the yard and natural
veld as sources of feed .
This was very common especially for house-holds that had no fences around their home-
steads, cattle herds grazed on communal rangelands throughout the year and received
supplements in winter. In all cases, supplements were in form of crop residues,mainly poor
quality maize stalks. These are common practices in almost all communal livestock holdings
in Zimbabwe with a few exceptions. Supplementation is essential since the natural veld
undergoes seasonal variation in both the quality and quantity of herbage given the seasonality
of rainfall in Zimbabwe . Most crop-livestock production relies directly on rainfall, and
adverse changes in quantity and temporal patterns of rainfall are a major risk to production .

According to recent research taken, most of the livestock farmers acknowledged that they
were aware that diseases posed the worst threat to herd growth. This appears to be a common
observation among communal livestock producers with findings by other researchers
generally making similar revelations (Masimba et al 2011) adding that disease challenges are
a major constraint to the improvement of the livestock industry in the tropics (Devendra et al
2000). This was attributed to the effect of diseases of reducing production and increasing
morbidity and mortality (Mwacharo and Drucker 2005).

According to Masikati (2010), the major constraint for cattle production in the smallholder
farming systems is the high animal mortality through diseases. farmers indicated shortage of
feed, shortage of water and livestock diseases as the top ranked constraints for livestock
production in Masvingo ,Merengwa and other parts of Manicaland, the farmers in the studied
sites rated the lack of feed and disease as the most important constraints to cattle production .
Farmers in this study were not always able to identify common disease problems affecting
their livestock herds. Contrary to this observation, a study that was conducted in Zhombe
communal area of Zimbabwe showed that farmers had a firm understanding of poultry flock
health and managed to positively identify diseases affecting poultry flocks.

Table below shows Ranking of common problems faced by

farmers

Ranking Nature of challenge Frequency (%)

1 Diseases 69.3
2 Feed shortages 52.1
3 Water (access and 39
quality)
4 Extension services 26
5 Others 15

It was surprising to note that disease challenges were ranked highest among problems faced
by communal farmers, especially when the same indicated the presence of the Department of
Agricultural Research and Extension (Agritex ).

Other researchers have reported the collapse of extension support systems.With a few
exceptions, an overwhelming trend in both rich and poor countries has made government
provision of clinical Veterinary Services a thing of the past. In the event that extension staff
is available, they are either incapacitated due to lack of equipment, transport and drugs or are
too few to be accessible when needed.In the same study lack of extension services was
ranked second among constraints to pig production.
According to Morton and Matthewman (1996), livestock production extension services have
developed around crop production, and remain tied largely to the seasonal nature of cropping
adding that such a system is less useful for livestock production. Livestock services and the
ministries or departments that are responsible for them, are mainly run by vets, and focus on
animal health issues: curative treatment of individual animals, preventive health, and health
screening of animal products.

Some farmers indicated that they resorted to non-conventional disease control practices.
Indeed this is not peculiar to this area, although the use of specific indigenous species might
be. Masimba and co-workers (2011) reported that rural households in Gutu District reared
indigenous poultry and made extensive use of ethnoveterinary medicines in poultry health
management practices. These findings are also consistent with observations by Mwale and
co-workers (2005) who reported the use of several indigenous plant species in livestock
health management in Mushagashe, Zimbabwe.

Challenges associated with feed availability is alson a stambling block to livestock sector
development in Zimbabwe. Severity of shortages worsened during the dry season. A common
challenge is the seasonal nature of rainfall patterns in Zimbabwe and many parts of Africa
leading to seasonal fluctuations in forage quality and quantity. However, population pressure
and emerging new markets created by urbanisation have caused an increase in land under
cultivation, at the expense of grazing land, grazing land is restricted to waste land, roadsides,
edges of cropping fields and river banks, as well as fallow land during the wet season and
crop residues during the dry season associated with land competition for cropping.

Lack of knowledge, inadequate extension and sometimes ignorance, leads to serious

problems related to feed shortages.However ,opportunities for improving the nutrition of
livestock do exist, for instance, multipurpose legume trees can provide high-quality feed and
improve soil fertilityif the government of Zimbabwe assist the local farmer with knowledge
on how to keep livestock in a sustainable manner .

Breeding and selection , the majority of farmers kept indigenous breeds of livestock including
crosses between exotic and indigenous breeds. A few exotic breeds were encountered in very
small numbers. It is interesting, however, to note that communal farmers had some
knowledge of selection of animals for breeding purposes. Farmers indicated that they
practiced selection of individuals to breed for cattle, goats and chickens .This probably
indicates that farmers are not entirely ignorant of laws of genetic inheritance; however, the
low proportions of farmers selecting animals on the basis of performance of parents may be
indicative of weak record keeping or absence there-of.

Some farmers prefer indigenous breeds because they are tolerant to diseases and utilize feed
of low nutrient density to produce good quality meat and perform well even without very
sophisticated management, use of improved breeds in developing countries presents farmers
with a major challenge as the breeds require intensive management for them to realize full
production potential. Genetic factors do not appear to be a restriction in Africa. Local breeds
are able to make the best use of their actual environment, and, with better management,
performance can be improved.
There seems to be scope for improving the performance of the communal livestock
production sector, the use of locally adapted breeds can help overcome most communal cattle
production constraints. Crossbreeding of low-yielding indigenous breeds with high-yielding
exotic breeds has been widely acknowledged as a valuable strategy to improve animal
productivity. It appears it would be easy to introduce and promote such practices in areas
such as this one since farmers demonstrate some knowledge of breeding and selection,
though rudimentary,farmers are able to castrate animals to control breeding, which is
encouraging.

To conclude,the study suggested the existence of various challenges to livestock production

including diseases resulting in high mortality rates, feed and water shortages as well as sub-
optimal extension services. Opportunities, however, exist for improving livestock production
in communal areas and some of the possible technologies are not new to farmers.

There is need for promotion of strategies to widen the feed resource base, promote feed
conservation and improve nutritive value. Various ways of improving offspring health and
nutrition management to reduce mortality could also be employed. It seems what is required
is a proper demonstration on implementation of proven technologies and practices augmented
by improved extension service provision and deployment of resources backed by dedicated
monitoring systems.
References
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