Drought in Matabeleland South has escalated and villagers in Gwanda are reportedly exchanging some of their livestock for stock-feed to save their herds.
Most parts of Gwanda — except for a few farms in the district no longer have pastures for livestock.
Farmers in neighbouring Beitbridge recently told NewsDay that they were having problems getting grazing land for their cattle, with some animals reportedly crossing into South Africa for pastures.
In separate interviews on Saturday, in Fumukwe, one of the affected areas about 70km from Gwanda town, villagers painted a gloomy picture of the situation.
They said their livestock could be wiped out if the government does not intervene to save the situation.
“We have a serious problem on our hands. There is no grass and water for our animals. Our animals are dying as a result,”said one villager Mbulawa Maphosa, adding that they were now buying supplementary feed for their animals.
Local agro-dealers were selling a bale of grass for $7 while a 50kg bag of pen feed meal was selling for $20.
“Those villagers who don’t have money to buy the stockfeed trade in with their cattle,” said Maphosa. “It’s a desperate situation hence these desperate measures. Government should consider coming up with a stockfeed loan programme. ”
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An agro-dealer in the village Solomon Linda confirmed that some villagers were trading their livestock to get supplementary feeding for their livestock.
“You negotiate on the basis of what the person thinks their animal is worth and give them stockfeed that is equivalent to the value of that animal,” he told NewsDay at the weekend.
Recently, MDC leader Welshman Ncube, who is also Industry and Commerce minister, said government did not have a comprehensive drought mitigation programme in place and accused the Agriculture ministry of reneging on its duty to provide such a facility.
Ncube, a rancher in the Midlands province, was addressing villagers at St Joseph’s in Matobo District. Another villager from Fumukwe Shadreck Ndlovu urged the government to consider their plight seriously.
“For us, livestock is our livelihood,” he said. “We rely on these animals for raising school fees for our children and even sell our cattle to buy food. Government must do something. Let’s have a stockfeed loan programme just like we have a grain loan scheme. It is important for politicians to take these issues seriously and not to politick about them.”
Apart from the pastures problem, water for the livestock was also another crisis.
Some water sources like Guyu Two Dam in Gwanda have dried up.
Consequently, villagers have to pump water from the nearby borehole into troughs for their animals to avert a crisis reminiscent of the 1992 drought in which thousands of livestock perished.
