Govt pushes for new cattle breeds

Bulawayo (New Ziana) – In a bid to boost the national herd, government is pushing for new cattle breeds in the country.

Speaking at a stakeholder meeting here, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Obert Jiri said plans were on course to increase cattle production.

He noted that some cattle breeds did not fetch any commercial value, and therefore there was need to address this by ensuring that new breeds and genetics are introduced.

“Some of the cattle really don’t fetch any commercial value and that is a major problem. We need to address this by ensuring we bring new breeds and genetics to ensure we increase our number of cattle. That will give us the quality meat that we want as a country, ” he said.

Jiri said there are several strategies that the government will use to ensure cattle get adequate nutrients.

“Definitely one of them is to grow our pasture and make sure that our cattle continue to have good nutrition throughout the season. We should also be able to do hay baling across the country. So far, we are sitting on over two million hay bails,” he said.

He said hay bailing helps livestock farmers with affordable feed as prices of commercial feed remain beyond the reach of many.

According to the ministry, the national beef herd grew by two percent in 2022, increasing from 5 509 983 in 2021 to 5 642 400 in 2022.

The positive growth was attributed to a fairly good livestock season and a reduction in mortality.

In 2020, the Government approved the Livestock Recovery and Growth Plan (2021-2026), whose main thrust is to put in place solid interventions to address livestock production and productivity issues.

The livestock sector contributes significantly in the inclusive growth and development of the national economy and is positioned to play a key role in the current national inclusive transformation agenda towards attainment of Vision 2030.

New Ziana