BY OBERT SIAMILANDU MIDDLEMEN are allegedly ripping off cattle producers in the Midlands province by pegging very low prices for their livestock.
In some cases, the middlemen reportedly pay as low as US$150 per beast and then sell them for double the price or even more.
Contributing to a discussion on farming issues aired yesterday on 98.4 FM in Gweru, Midlands provincial director for Agricultural and Rural Development Services Medlinah Magwenzi said: “We are very concerned as a province over middlemen who are ripping off cattle producers. This is not good at all. We cannot have a situation whereby producers do not benefit from their cattle. Middlemen should have good offers so that producers benefit too.”
“The issue of COVID-19 pandemic is a blow to the cattle market in our province. Middlemen have pegged cattle producer prices at low prices which at times are not even sustainable to the producers. Farmers must also desist from selling dead animal meat because it must not be consumed.”
In an unrelated matter, residents of Kandodo and Maglas township in Zvishavane, Midlands province, have resorted to constructing pit latrines because their existing communal toilets are now dilapidated.
Residents told Southern Eye that they were living on a health time bomb due to unhygienic conditions in the area.
“We are experiencing water shortages, which is exposing us to cholera and diarrhoea,” a resident said.
The two suburbs are under the now-defunct Shabani-Mashava Mines.
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