Beef cattle development initiatives: a case of Matobo A2 Resettlement farms in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The study was carried out to examine various practices that resettled A2 farmers have adopted to enhance cattle rearing in Matobo district in Matabeleland south province in Zimbabwe. A multi-stage random sampling method was used to select 60 a smallholder farmers to which a structured questionnaire was randomly administered. Statistical Package for Social Sciences, SPSS (1999) was used for data computation. It was observed that 47% of the farmers keep local (indigenous) breeds and 67% of the participants indicated that farmers retain steers for draught purposes. There was no significant difference (P<0.05) between the numbers of cattle sold to private butcheries and the one sold to private buyers. Farmers face challenges in cattle feeding especially during winter. Informal cattle marketing systems have resulted in low prizes offered to cattle on sale. There is need for farmers to form cooperatives so that they can gain value from their cattle production business.