mbulelo smpofu
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
WOMEN farmers in Matobo District in Matabeleland South Province have to look for alternatives to source and supplement feed for their livestock as they grapple with the severe impacts of soil erosion and desertification in their area.
The district is facing rampant land degradation, which villagers have likened to a “cancer of the soil”.
This environmental crisis is not only diminishing crop yields but also severely affecting livestock production due to the deteriorating quality of grazing land.
A group of five women from Tshipisane and Hlababomvu villages have set up feeding points to avert the continuous deaths of the livestock.
In a recent interview, the group’s Land and Livestock Restoration chairperson, Ms Beauty Tshuma who is also a farmer said while they were working on addressing the soil erosion crisis, they were also coming up with alternatives for the survival of their livestock.
“As women farmers, we saw it important to address the continuous death of livestock that was affecting our community due to the El Nino-induced drought. As a group of five women we came together to save our livestock and at the same time work on restoring the degraded land,” she said.
Ms Tshuma said they got a good Samaritan who was willing to assist them with feeding their animals.
She said they set up a feeding point in each of the villages (Tshipisani and Hlababomvu) where they bring their livestock together and supplementary feed them for some days.
“We take all our livestock including cattle and goats as well as donkeys, prioritising the most affected ones. We feed them for some days until the affected ones recover before giving them back to the owners,” she said.
“We ensure there is enough feed for these animals as well as water. For those that are in a critical state, we seek veterinary services to ensure they are attended to.”
Ms Tshuma said that pen fattening was critical because livestock has become their source of livelihood so that they can take care of their families and be able to pay school fees for their children and grandchildren.
Ms Tshuma said as a way of restoring degraded land, they were rotating their livestock feeding points to utilise the livestock dung and urine to provide nutrients to the soil.
Another member of the group and also a farmer in Hlababomvu Village, Ms Jennifer Moyo said the “cancer of the soil” was affecting their livestock as their area was slowly facing desertification.
“Our vegetation has over the years been decreasing and eventually it started to disappear, our land has been seriously degraded which affects our cropping as well as our livestock as there is no grass or anything for grazing,” she said.
“As a group, we started as a stokvel for money, but because of the livestock we were losing we decided to address the bigger challenge of livestock deaths and degraded land.”
She said they were also faced with the challenge of livestock ingestion of plastics which was also contributing to a higher number of deaths in cattle, donkeys and goats.
Ms Moyo said utilising the knowledge they have acquired from various agricultural training programmes and workshops as well as field days they have attended, they came up with alternatives of supplementary feeding their livestock, while also doing clean-up campaigns to address the plastic issue.
Online Reporter
