Chinamasa rolls out bulls project for Makoni Central Minister Chinamasa
Minister Chinamasa

Minister Chinamasa

Samuel Kadungure Mutare Bureau
FINANCE and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa, with technical support from the Department of Veterinary Services, has rolled out a bulls breeding programme in his Makoni Central Constituency.

So far, 400 smallholder cattle and goat farmers have been trained on latest animal husbandry practices following which 16 high-yielding Brahman bulls, selected on the basis of their genetic merit and high reproductive efficiency, were distributed in Wards 22, 20, 19, 21 and 11.

The bulls are being cross bred with Mashona cattle, whose body size and weight had been excessively retarded by inbreeding.

The initiative has started bearing fruits in three wards where the bulls were first introduced as the birth-weight of calves has improved to 30kg.

Cde Chinamasa said the aim of the project was to capacitate small-scale beef and dairy farmers by identifying constraints, formulating and assisting in the implementation of remedial measures, including appropriate strategies like bulling and cascading best animal husbandry managerial practices to grassroots.

Cde Chinamasa, who is the Makoni Central MP, said major challenges confronting both communal and newly resettled farmers in the constituency ranged from inbreeding, lack of feeds, high incidence of diseases and parasites, theft and predators, lack of cash to buy livestock pharmaceuticals, insufficient pastures to poor marketing.

Cattle, goats, sheep and chicken are major victims of inbreeding — which refers to the reproduction through the mating of parents who are closely related genetically.

“So far, we have distributed 16 bulls in Wards 11, 19, 20, 21 and 22 after training the farmers on best animal husbandry practices.

“So far, 302 smallholder farmers have been trained on cattle and 70 on goat management. The programme is set to start in Ward 38, after which we will distribute the bulls,” he said.

Cde Chinamasa said apart from the high yielding bulls, Boer goats would be distributed in all rural wards with a long term view to improve meat quality, genetic diversity, enhance milk production and cross-breeds whose performance exceed the average of the parental breeds.

Goats reproduce at a much faster rate than cattle. He will continue building the capacity of rural farmers through initiatives like distributing selectively breed bulls for cross breeding, reducing diseases and parasites, development of community-based livestock breeding centres, improved livestock extension, local feed formulation and stocking, livestock marketing and local capacity building.

Cde Chimanasa said as a way to get the best results, farmers had agreed to castrate or sell off their traditional dwarf bulls and heifers. Veterinary extension officer, Mr Tichaona Kaneunyenye, said seven of the bulls were doing very well.

“We have about 30 heifers from the bulls. The cross breeds are far better than their parental breeds. We are encouraging farmers to do away with those small bulls. We are also encouraging farmers to grow legumes such as lablab, Lucerne and velvet bean as supplementary feed,” said Mr Kaneunyenye.

Mr Kaneunyenye said the bull handlers were selected on the basis of ability and knowledge on animal management.

“We wanted people who could handle the bulls efficiently so we had to look at how one was managing his/or her herd, plus the level of knowledge during tutorials. This initiative will go a long way broadening smallholder farmers’ livelihoods, productivity and profitability.

“One of the challenges faced by farmers was reduced income from the sale of their livestock, especially cattle and goats due to their small sizes. It is clear that the reduction in size was due to excessive inbreeding which is now being reversed through the introduction of Brahman bulls.

“There is need to introduce high-yielding breeds to correct the anomaly and allow farmers to fully exploit the genetic potential of the systematically bred animals,” he said.

Cde Chinamasa has also been drilling boreholes to mitigate the shortage of water for domestic use and livestock production.

He was rehabilitating dip tanks as most of them were not working, forcing cattle to be driven for long distances, adversely affecting their quality as they burn energy when travelling.

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