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Elton Manguwo

AS the push to commercialise all farming disciplines gathers momentum, the Government has moved in to facilitate the establishment of a vibrant livestock sector with 18 districts having since established producer business associations to handle cattle marketing matters as well as challenges.

Speaking during an interview recently, Livestock and Meat Advisory Council (LMAC) agricultural economist Dr Reneth Mano said that the producer business associations were empowering rural livestock farmers to address marketing constraints in cattle value chains.

The producer business associations are working with small-scale farmers and key offtake market players to ensure that farmers extract maximum value from their animals.

“These producer associations are organised and efficient, as they link directly with the consumers of their cattle thereby doing away with bogus middlemen,” said Dr Mano.

The initiative also targets to increase production, productivity, market competitiveness and organisational efficiencies for cattle producers through deliberate efforts to increase efficiencies at production level by promoting good animal husbandry practices such as dipping, vaccination and supplementary feeding to reduce animal mortality rate.

“The established system is working with cattle farmer groups established in 18 out of the country’s 60 districts to form production corridors that supply meat and meat products directly to independent licenced butcheries and abattoirs to drive and coordinate the commercial interests of the farmer members,” said Dr Mano.

Additionally, the development of robust marketing system is critical in boosting production, which is important for the successful roll out of the livestock and recovery growth plan aimed at increasing the country’s herd to 6 million this year from the current 5, 5million.

The development comes on the backdrop of Government’s growing calls for the remodelling of the cattle marketing platforms so that smallholder farmers can have a ready market for their animals.

Dr Mano highlighted that the producer business associations were pivotal in developing the beef value chain so that farmers can get the full value from their cattle.

Business advisor and livestock value chain financier, Mr Morris Mpala commended the establishment of marketing platforms for small-scale farmers saying it was a welcome development that would help in price discovery of their animals on the public market and would benefit most stakeholders in the cattle value chain.

“This is the way to go. Its establishment was long overdue. It needs to be spread across the country, as it brings value to the farmer and eliminates unscrupulous buyers who buy cattle for a song and later sell them to abattoirs or other third party players at profitable prices. They are the ones who get the true value of the animals later,” said Mr Mpala.