Beefing up the local livestock sector

The resuscitation of the Cold Storage Company will breathe life into the ailing beef industry, which has been struggling for over a decade.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture (Livestock) Paddy Zhanda said the revival of the Bulawayo-headquartered company was progressing as planned.

“In terms of what we want to achieve with the CSC, work is still in progress. As you might be aware, the CSC is currently functioning. What we are working on is to make sure that the entity performs to its full capacity,” Deputy Minister Zhanda said.

The company has presented a restructuring strategy to the Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Ministry as it seeks an investor for joint venture arrangements.

The Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union, through second vice-president Mr Berean Mukwende, told The Sunday Mail Extra that the absence of commercial cattle buyers like CSC had hampered the beef industry’s development.

“For smallholder cattle producers, the major stumbling block has been the unavailability of markets.

“The market is currently under the spell of middlemen who are milking farmers by charging ridiculously low prices. The resuscitation of the CSC will bring back the glory years,” Mr Mukwende said.

Before the CSC crumbled, the beef industry was the joy and pride of the commercial farming sector, contributing more than US$100 million per year to revenues.

For over a decade, the CSC has been in free-fall; selling off its fleet, cannibalising machinery, leasing out facilities and generally getting into a state of disarray.

But it never recovered from a suspension of the quota following outbreaks of foot and mouth and lumpy skin diseases and a sustained breakdown in veterinary controls.

Now raising adequate working capital, high staff turnover and an ageing fleet compound the problems.

Private players have moved in to fill the void, and there is anecdotal evidence that some senior CSC staff colluded in this development for personal benefit. Statistics from the Zimbabwe Abattoirs’ Association show that the country slaughters between 18 000 and 22 000 cattle a month with abattoirs in Matabeleland accounting for 6 000 to 7 000.

After Government early this year announced resuscitation of CSC, service slaughter to farmers has been introduced and purchase of carcasses at wholesale prices is expected soon. Farmers may offer skins and offal as payment for slaughter services.

Dr Chrispen Sikume of the Livestock Identification Trust is optimistic that revival of the Cold Storage Company will go a long way in improving the local beef industry.

“The CSC has been the missing link in the beef industry. However, other measures such as the increased focus on pen-feeding and research into breeds must be encouraged so that the national herd is increased,” Dr Sikume said.

The Zimbabwe Farmers Union says there is need to strengthen productive capacity of smallholders, who account for 95 percent of all Zimbabwe’s cattle.

Matabeleland is the largest supplier of cattle to the local market.

The EU says CSC can only resume beef exports to its markets when it meets set sanitary standards, a precondition applied to all quota suppliers. The company used to supply about 9 100 tonnes of beef annually to EU countries.

Locally, beef prices remain high, with the cheapest on offer retailing for about US$4 per kg.

Beef – rather than chicken — used to be the most consumed meat product with Zimbabweans eating on average 13kg yearly into the 1990s.