Movable kraal rotation, game changer for Matobo farmers

Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
FARMERS in Matobo District, Matabeleland South Province have come up with movable kraals to combat the effects of the El Niño-induced drought affecting their livestock.
The concept allows them to rotate and supplement feed for the most impacted animals in their communities.
The innovative approach not only addresses immediate livestock needs but also aids in restoring degraded land, enhancing crop production.

The movable kraals involve smallholder farmers uniting their cattle into a communal herd, which is then rotated through gardens and crop fields.
By enclosing the cattle overnight for at least seven days in each location, the initiative leverages the animals’ natural behaviours to improve soil health — loosened by their hooves and enriched by their dung and urine, ultimately boosting soil fertility and water retention.
In an interview, a farmer from Tshipisani Village in Ward 8 of Matobo District, Mr Dingaan Ndlovu said they were not spared from the effects of the El Nino-induced drought as farmers have lost a number of animals.
“Matabeleland South Province was the most affected in the country in terms of livestock deaths. Our area being in that province was not spared. We took up an initiative as a community to salvage animals that were dying because of the drought. We could not just sit and watch our animals perish and getting decimated by the drought,” he said.

“As a community we came together to initiate a programme or an action that will save our livestock. We set up two feeding points in Tshipisani Village (Ward 8) and Hlababomvu Village (Ward 9) where we would do supplementary feeding of our animals especially cattle and donkeys.”
He said they procured supplementary feeding in the form of over 1 000 bales wheat straw from the local Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) irrigation scheme at Maphisa Growth Point.
Mr Ndlovu said on a daily basis they are feeding over 300 animals, these include cattle and donkeys.

“The drought has been terrible for us, farmers were losing their animals in numbers. This was our way of innovating to tackle the drought and protect our animals. As a community we took a proactive role in planning because we are very much aware that our area is prone to droughts almost every year though this one has been terribly disastrous, but otherwise animals are dying every year,” he said.
He said there was a need to sit down and do pre-planning on what they would do during the winter.
Mr Ndlovu said their initiative was also in support of Government’s Vision 2030 of an upper- middle-income economy, where the community is standing up to work for themselves, in line with President Mnangagwa’s philosophy that ilizwe lakhiwa ngabaninilo.

“Chief Bidi also consolidated the point that people should stand up and work for themselves. The Government has also supported us in terms of feeding materials by supplying silage under the Ministry Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development which we managed to go and collect in Kwekwe. We got 30 tonnes which is 600 bags,” he said.
In terms utilising the movable kraal to restore degraded land, he said they were following the principles of Holistic Management approach developed by Allan Savory.

Allan Savory is a Zimbabwean livestock farmer and former politician and his approach helps land managers, farmers, ranchers, environmentalists, and policymakers develop strategies for regenerating degraded landscapes and the livelihoods of the people living on them.
Mr Ndlovu said: “We are losing vegetation at an alarming rate, soils are being eroded and our dams have closed up due to siltation because the land is not protected by grasses. With the movable kraals we are moving further to promote rejuvenation of grasses as a way of protecting our water bodies and rivers in the same time creating strong root systems into the soil for grasses production.”

He said urine from animals had lots of nitrogen, together with fresh dung.
Mr Ndlovu said when cattle and donkeys are enclosed in an area, their hooves help loosen the soil and directly deposit nutrients into the soil which is way cheaper and easier for subsistence farmers in villages.
“By the end of the seven days, the cattle and donkeys would have covered about one acre of land and then we move them to the next place. We are doing this in farmers’ fields, afterwards they can just crop without any tillage. Additionally, cow dung and urine help clean the soil of toxins,” he said.
He said they were also doing the same on the grazing lands to rejuvenate the grasses and tackle the cancer of the soil that was leading to desertification.