Posted on 06/21/2002 7:09:57 AM PDT by Clive
THE accelerated destocking exercise under way on most commercial farms as a result of continued land occupations will negatively impact on the availability of beef both for local consumption and exports.
Cattle Producers Association(CPA) chief executive Paul d'Hotman said farmers served with Section 8 notices had no alternative than to destock. As some 95% of commercial farms have been listed for acquisition and over 60% of them having received Section 8 notices, uncertainty is running high.
"Many farmers were forced to destock because of grazing restrictions imposed by settlers and as a result the commercial herd has been severely reduced," D'Hotman said.
He said although all recognised beef exports were currently suspended as a result of the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak, the markets required higher quality grades of beef supplied by the commercial sector.
"As the commercial beef herd in Zimbabwe shrinks, so does the ability of the country to meet export market commitments," he said.
"Apart from the quality factor, the actual supply of beef to the market will diminish because the small-scale sector has a traditional off-take of less than 5% compared to 20% or more in the commercial sector."
Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) Mashonaland West (South) regional executive Ben Freeth said as of last week 387,250 beasts had been slaughtered countrywide since the start of the invasions.
"Destocking is being done as a result of pressure from the new owners who do not allow the animals to graze," Freeth said.
"Some of the cattle on the farms are being seized under the guise of paying 'termination benefits' for retrenched farm workers.
"Disturbances in the commercial farming sector resulted in the commercial beef herd recording a 45% decline in the breeding herd over the past year," he said.
"Up to 30% of the commercial beef herd has been slaughtered as farms were burnt out and herds driven off farms. Of concern is the breeding stock that is being slaughtered but more importantly the pedigree herds, which provide the quality genetics on improving the national herd, are being sent to the butcher," he said.
Figures supplied by the Central Statistical Office (CSO) indicate a disturbing trend. Females bulled in the 12 months to March 31 1999, 2000 and 2001 are 508,000, 436,000 and 378,000, respectively.
In the recent CSO survey, bulling for the period up to March 2002 declined to 282,000 head.
The commercial herd normally supplies up to 80% of exportable cattle, which potentially earns Zimbabwe foreign currency of up to US$60 million per annum.
Zimbabwe exports 9,100 tonnes of beef every year to fulfil the European Union beef quota. The country also needs about 12,000 tonnes of exportable beef for Libya, South Africa and other markets such as Malaysia.
Because the black president wants all of the white farmer's land, the yellow maize that they grow didn't get planted so they had to eat the white maize that the cows eat, so they can't have red meat any more, on account of the black war veterans occupying the farms and kicking the whites out along with their black farm workers, so they had to rely on white bread but that's gone now....
Next week: Soylent Green...
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