Agriterra Limited, listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market, continues to expand its Mozambican cattle ranching operations.
The total herd now stands at 3,750, on course to reach 10,000 by 2015. The 5,000 target for 2012 is within reach.
Support infrastructure is being expanded, including a new 48 billion liter dam expected to increase per hectare capacity from 1.5 to 7 head, as well as new feedlots and an expanded stud ranch. The dam will be capable of irrigating 4,000 hectares and provide 132kV of hydroelectric power for the irrigation pumps.
In its efforts to encompass all aspects of the beef business, the company has opened a number of butcheries. A new abattoir with a capacity of 4,000 head per month will commence operations in August 2012. Average carcass prices range from US$ 835 to $1100 each.
African Agriculture
February 12, 2012
Agriterra’s cattle ranching operations in Mozambique on target
December 30, 2010
Agro-investor seeks funds to expand Mozambique beef operations
October 19, 2008
Cultural reticence, management problems reduce Swaziland´s beef export potential
The EU's new trade agreement with the impoverished country has opened the world's richest market to Swaziland's hormone-free beef but the lure of cash has failed to entice farmers to sell, and few people will benefit from the trade concessions even though the majority of Swazis own cattle.
"Swaziland used to have a quota of 10,000 tonnes of beef entering the EU market, and Swazi beef was taxed a levy of eight percent; now there is no limit to the amount we can ship, and no tax levy," said Jon Williams, managing director of Swaziland Meat Industries (SMI), the national abattoir. "What is more, Swazi beef is 100 percent hormone free, a requirement for EU beef imports. That is why relatively little beef is sent there [to the EU] from the US. All Swazi beef we can lay our hands on we export, and for domestic use we import beef from South Africa, which may not be hormone free," Williams said.
SMI, which facilitates cattle sales, has so far shipped only 300 tonnes to the EU in 2008. About 80 percent of Swaziland's one million people live on communal Swazi Nation Land (SNL), in a system with King Mswati III as the head of state in sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarchy, and in which chiefs allocate land and grazing rights. Despite efforts to promote commercial farming, subsistence farming is practiced by most SNL residents, who comprise the bulk of the 600,000 Swazis living in chronic poverty, according to the UN Development Programme.
"The sale of a cow would reap enormous cash benefits for a typical family – money to buy food and to educate children," said Sandile Fakudze, an agriculture extension officer in the central Manzini region. "Swazis are reluctant to part with their cattle, and this is an enormous problem.
The [national] herd is in trouble; deaths are high," said Roland Dlamini, acting director of Veterinary Services in the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives. "The fertility rate is a problem - a cow will give birth every three years on average."
For more than a decade Swaziland's national herd has stagnated at about 640,000, or two cows for every three people. The cattle mortality rate, which was below four percent in 2005, is now at 10 percent as a consequence of poor rainfall and drought that has exposed poor agricultural practices. "When we are talking about animal mortality, we are essentially talking about calf mortality - mothers are malnourished because of poor grazing land. Swaziland needs a breeding policy," Dlamini said. The department's goal is to produce a healthy national herd and ensure that annual breeding occurs. "It would stop overgrazing, and direct which breeds we should raise. Nguni cattle have been shown to do well in this country and a breeding policy would encourage this, instead of farmers buying any cow they seem to like," Dlamini commented.
"Grazing on public land will continue, but there needs to be an integration of farming and cattle-raising, so cattle can feed on each season's crop residue, like maize stalks," said Dlamini.
The government provides free veterinary medicines at 519 public dipping tanks, but its most popular service is the eight public feedlots operated in conjunction with SMI, which also provides technical and financial support. "The feedlots are the answer to making the national herd viable once more. The animals will be healthier and more market-ready," said Dlamini.
Current cattle-raising practices are taking their toll on the environment, with widespread overgrazing of ever-decreasing pasturage causing soil erosion and the marginalisation of formerly productive land, the desertification of formerly marginal land, and the silt pollution of streams that are the principal sources of water for households and irrigation in rural areas.
Part of the challenge is changing agricultural practices like routinely burning vegetation each winter, resulting in choking smoke for two months of the year and making Swaziland, with its negligible industrial base, a contributor of greenhouse gases, the effect of which is thought to compromise rainfall locally.
Alternative methods of farming cattle are being investigated, including the greater use of an indigenous Swazi plant. "The leucaena bush [Leucaena leucocephala] is drought resistant; it doesn't like cold, but it thrives in the many areas where there is little rainfall. Planting it on hillsides, in river beds and water catchment areas would stop erosion, and the cattle would get the protein they need," Williams said.
Complicating Swaziland's bid to try using the EU's trade concessions to fight poverty by earning foreign currency is the reluctance to sell cattle for cultural or sentimental reasons.
Timothy Masuku, who owns a dozen head of cattle 20km from Manzini, Swaziland's commercial centre, said, "I need my cattle for cultural purposes. They are for my sons to give to their brides' families, and other purposes. It is not like I can sell them any time." Masuku, like his ancestors, sees his herd as a savings account, rather than as the basis for acquiring cash to save or buy goods. "Besides, you don't know what tomorrow brings. If my family must move, we can take our cattle with us," Masuku said. Swaziland's system of plot tenure on communal land makes residents extremely vulnerable to the whims of chiefs, who can evict residents at a moment's notice, without legal recourse, even though families may have lived on the same plot of land for generations. Banning political parties in Swaziland has not dampened growing support for a democratic system akin to its neighbours, Mozambique and South Africa. Most chiefs are resisting a change in the status quo, leading to some to reportedly threatening their subjects that any political activity would lead to their eviction. In such circumstances cattle represent tremendous security as mobile assets in an emergency.
August 30, 2008
Zimbabwe exports $35 million of beef to EU annually
Zimbabwe has earned more than US$35 million annually from beef exports over the last few years but there is need to continue upgrading the cattle industry, an official at the Livestock Identification Trust has said.
In an interview at the just-ended Harare Agricultural Show, Livestock Identification Trust administrator Ms Avril Garlsson said the country earned the foreign currency under its Lome Convetion quota. The convention is a trade and aid agreement between the European Union and the African Caribbean and Pacific States.
"For a number of years, Zimbabwe has benefited from a preferential trading quota under the Lome Convention and the importance of the EU beef export market to the Zimbabwean cattle industry cannot be overemphasised. This market earns more than US$35 million annually," Ms Garsson said.
She said the Livestock Identification Trust is a company that seeks to expedite and promote cattle traceability in the country to ensure compliance with the EU regulations to boost the country’s beef exports. The company was a joint effort between the Commercial Farmers Union, the Indigenous Commercial Farmers Union and the Zimbabwe Farmers Union.
Its sole responsibility is to issue ear tags, maintain a computerised database of all cattle tagged and subsequently moved, sold, slaughtered or that could have died, as well as issues passports for export.
Garsson noted that one of the major challenges in the cattle industry has been the lack of meaningful data collection. "The installation of the Zimbabwe Cattle Traceability Scheme computer network now can be consolidated into one single database that will provide information for the benefit of producers, researchers, commodity associations, processors and consumers," she said, adding that the scheme was accepted by buyers in Europe.
She said another computer programme, which was highly sophisticated was also being developed with specialised beef performance components for Zimbabwe, South Africa and Ireland.
Ms Garsson said since January 2 000, the Livestock Identification Trust had also been keeping data for the Zimbabwe Dairy Services Association for their Milk Recording Scheme.
"Dairy producers in Zimbabwe now have access to one of the most sophisticated milk recording programmes in the world through which management information is provided on a monthly basis," she said.
The Livestock Identification Trust was also working towards converting the existing Herd Book pedigree livestock records onto the Integrated Registration and Information System programme.
"Once this is complete, the Livestock Identification Trust will then be able to maintain records of all pedigree livestock in Zimbabwe under the auspices of the Zimbabwe Herd Book," she said.
The Herald
August 07, 2008
Namibia in moves to increase cattle herd
Project manager, Heiner Böhme, said the figures would pick up towards end of this year.
Close to 60 farmers have until now been approved to participate in the project and more than 7 000 cattle have been procured since the pilot phase of the project was launched in November last year.
Of the 147 famers that applied to participate in the project, 59 of them, representing N$23 million were approved. The financing scheme, a project of Meatco in conjunction with the Namibia National Farmers Union, the Meat Board, aims to counter Meatco’s dwindling slaughter numbers by providing farmers with the financial and technical support to produce slaughter cattle.
Not only will this increase throughput at Meatco’s abattoirs and secure optimum numbers of marketable cattle to its factories throughout the year, but it will address the large numbers of weaners that leave the country on the hoof every year without value being added to it locally.
According to statistics some 200 000 animals leave Namibia every year for South African feedlots, but the project wants to increase throughput at local Meatco abattoirs and to create a larger local market for locally produced weaners as well as address the problems of underutilisation of farmland for beef production.
With this year’s good rainy season, cattle performed satisfactorily, said Böhme, adding that through the scheme, they would find out what growth to expect considering that growth rates differ from region to region.
The meat processing company has seen a decrease in the number of cattle delivered at its abattoirs since some 12 years ago. Cattle numbers in commercial areas of the south decreased to 110 000 in 2006 from 185 000 in 1986 and 138 000 in 2005.
Two commercial banks, First National and Bank Windhek signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Meatco and have already started approving cattle.
Böhme said the third bank, Standard Bank, still needs to implement the necessary internal products before applications can be accepted, while Nedbank and Agribank have expressed interest to participate and are awaiting approval from their boards of directors.
It is expected that all five banks will have signed MOA’s by end of this month, said Böhme.
The producers have to meet some criteria before they are approved, which include general management practices, available grazing, veterinary practices, infrastructure and genetics, and ability to raise weaners as slaughter cattle should financial assistance become available.
After buying the cattle, Meatco officials go out to the farms to get information relating to age, sex and weight and visit after three months to monitor the performance of the cattle to see if there are problems and if they are gaining weight.
“We want to see the red flags early enough,” he said.
The project will officially be launched under a new name at an event on August 20.
May 04, 2008
Kenya beef exports to EU likely to remain banned without improvement in vet services
The European Union is unlikely to lift a ban on beef imports from Kenya unless the government enhances veterinary services, a workshop was told.
Kenya Veterinary Association (KVA) said the Government should allocate more funds to veterinary services to reclaim its export share to Europe.
The association’s national chairman, Dr Christopher Wanga, said that the department of veterinary services needs more financing.
"The government needs to allocate more funds to the department and recruit more doctors and technicians," he said.
Kenya lost its beef export quota to Europe over its failure to control animal diseases. The 4,000 tonnes meat annual quota was taken over by Botswana.
Wanga said the Government should embark on an extensive vaccination programme. "Disease control measures need to cover over 80 per cent of livestock throughout the country," he said.
He noted that Rift Valley and North Eastern provinces are largely affected by disease outbreaks.
Wanga was speaking in Kakamega during a workshop which brought together stakeholders in the livestock industry.
Reclaiming the quota will prove to be very difficult as the government recently announced a viral disease was responsible for the deaths of thousands of sheep and goats.
The PPR (peste des petits ruminants) has been identified to be a major threat to livestock mainly in arid and semi arid regions.
April 10, 2008
Southern African veterinary experts meet to discuss beef industry
Southern African veterinary experts are among 60 other specialists in that field including representatives from the African Union and South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and United Kingdom governments who began meeting in Pretoria, South Africa recently to exchange notes on the future of the beef industry.
The workshop comes at a time when Zimbabwe is trying to revive its national herd, Botswana is battling to control a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak and a debate is raging in Namibia over the continued existence of the so-called red veterinary line -- a colonial legacy which critics say cuts rural beef producers out of lucrative markets.
Officials from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), FAO, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), national farming unions, businesses and others were also attending the high-level workshop.
Top on the agenda was the transboundary animal disease and market access with emphasis on future options for the beef industry in southern Africa.
Policymakers in southern Africa -- and beyond -- are dealing with some very difficult questions which include the following:
* How can southern Africa benefit from the global 'livestock revolution'?
* What options exist for trade given changes in market demand, entry requirements and trade preferences?
* What veterinary and food safety standards are required for different trade options?
* What does this imply for disease control and management of transboundary diseases such as foot and mouth?
* Who are the winners and losers of different scenarios for the future?
The beef industry in the region has been a stalwart of economic development, but do the new conditions of trade and market access and disease dynamics, particularly of foot-and-mouth disease, suggest new options must be sought?
Organisers said this workshop will debate these questions, and explore alternative scenarios from four country settings: Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, as well as the wider southern African region.
Julia Day, one of the organisers, said the workshop was the culmination of an 18-month study supported by the United Kingdom-based Welcome Trust and co-ordinated by the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex in the UK. "The country studies have produced a series of mapping papers, identifying alternative market access and disease control scenarios, focusing on the beef trade and the challenge of foot-and-mouth disease specifically.
"The aim of the workshop will be to debate these findings and seek the way forward for national, regional and international policy," she said. Southern Africa's beef industry, and with it veterinary control and management systems, evolved in a very different era: large scale commercial production systems dominated, major subsidies were provided at different parts of the value chain and preferential access to key export markets was assured. But contexts are fast changing.
A wider group of producers, including smallholders, are demanding access to markets and the privileged position of large scale ranching is being questioned. Subsidies have been slashed and development efforts have concentrated increasingly on broader-based growth objectives. At the same time, preferential trade agreements -- notably the ACP quota system for trade with the European Union -- have ended; giving way to Economic Partnership Agreements, with uncertain consequences for the beef industry, and global supply and competition continues to increase. But all is not doom and gloom.
New markets are opening up -- in the region, as urban growth accelerates and demand for red meat increases, as well as in Asia and the Middle East. However, changing patterns of transboundary animal diseases make the future of the region's beef industry very uncertain.
With foot-and-mouth disease endemic among buffalo populations across southern Africa, there is always the risk of a new outbreak. Experts say these populations are due to increase significantly in number and distribution with the establishment of transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) aimed at creating a vast network of conservation areas established to promote biodiversity and eco-tourism, encapsulated by the vision of an 'Africa without fences'.
Experts say this complicates disease management systems involving area-based zonation, movement control, fencing, permits and animal traceability which in any case are both difficult and expensive to implement. As import standards ratchet ever upwards, questions are raised about the feasibility of compliance, given other demands on already stretched veterinary systems and the apparently conflicting demands of livestock development and conservation within the over-arching context of rural development and poverty alleviation.
Day said that given these new contexts, and given the critical importance of the livestock industry for economic development, there was an urgent need to challenge past assumptions and evaluate alternatives to the status quo. "The development of the scenario options in the four country papers, as well as the regional overview, offer a map for the way forward. Over the past 18 months -- through a combination of detailed research and numerous stakeholder-led dialogues -- the research teams have explored different scenarios for tackling the challenge of foot-and-mouth disease, relating each to different market access and trade options.
The core question has been: what option (or combination of options) makes the most sense, given the current context? Different criteria are evident, with often clear trade offs.
The studies asked: "which option results in the greatest returns? Which provides benefits to the broadest group of people? And which will be, in the longer term, the most sustainable?" she said. Different scenarios have been explored, and discussed intensely with different stakeholder groups. The results of these engagements will be shared and debated further at the workshop in order to explore ways forward for the future, and identify the key shifts in the policy environment required.
Professor Ian Scoones of the Institute of Development Studies, UK, has drawn attention to the fast changing contexts for southern Africa's livestock production systems.
"A wider group of producers, including smallholders, are demanding access to markets and the privileged position of large scale ranching is being questioned. Subsidies have been slashed and development efforts have concentrated increasingly on broader-based growth objectives. "At the same time, preferential trade agreements -- notably the ACP quota system for trade with the European Union -- have ended, giving way to Economic Partnership Agreements, with uncertain consequences for the beef industry, and global supply and competition continues to increase," he says.
He, however, remains optimistic that the opening up of new markets in urban centres of the region as well as Asia and the Middle East will bring better prospects for the region's beef industry. But Scoones remains concerned at the likelihood of more challenges in managing transfrontier parks, which seek to allow animals free movement.
"The establishment of transfrontier conservation areas . . . complicates disease management systems involving area-based zonation, movement control, fencing, permits and animal traceability which in any case are both difficult and expensive to implement."
allafrica.com
August 07, 2007
South Africa halts UK meat imports after disease outbreak
South Africa indefinitely suspended meat imports from the United Kingdom after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the south of England, officials said on August 6.
"The South African government confirms that until further notice, no veterinary import permits will be issued for cloven-hoofed animals and products derived thereof originating from the United Kingdom," the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs said in a statement.
En-route consignments will be held at ports and unused import permits cancelled, the department added. Only animal products given a clean bill of health according to international requirements would be excluded from the suspension.
Britain imposed a ban on all livestock movement after a strain of foot-and mouth-disease was confirmed in a herd in Surrey in southern England on August 3.
Mail and Guardian
June 13, 2007
Joint venture investment set to modernize Tanzanian beef industry
A joint venture between US and Tanzanian investors focuses on the establishment of a commercial beef production company in the East African country. The joint venture, Triple S Beef, Ltd.(TSB, Ltd.), will help to modernize the agricultural sector of Tanzania by providing much needed technological and scientific updates.
"The social-economic liberalization policies and institutional reforms in Tanzania have created an enabling environment for private investors," said Brent Butler, COO of MasterPlans, the US company hired to put together the project's business plan. "Tanzania offers great opportunities and an abundance of natural wealth, providing tremendous investment opportunities for investors."
"Basic industries, such as meat packing, provide new income to a locality by exporting goods and services to people outside of the locality," said Gary Stowe, founder of TSB, Ltd. "Furthermore, we see our business directly affecting the local economy by expanding the local agriculture and related industries, and providing needed education."
The company will also spearhead several training initiatives in the area. For example, they will present genetic improvement programs to area ranchers and will also train regional ranchers in cattle behavior, especially in relation to the effective and humane transport of livestock. The company will also impact several other sectors including ranching and farming through the use of energy and water saving techniques.
In addition, TSB, Ltd. will develop a labor pool management program and human resource training initiatives to quickly adapt the indigenous people to modern farming, ranching, and meat packing techniques. Training initiatives will also educate local farmers and ranchers on crop and animal development techniques. TSB, Ltd. will also work to develop educational programs to help individuals mitigate their chances of contracting HIV/AIDS. Programs will not only be offered to employees, but will also be offered throughout villages where the company has a potential labor pool.
Portland Daily Business News
March 05, 2007
Zimbabwe fails to use E.U. beef quota over stringent requirements
Zimbabwe has shelved plans to resume beef exports to the European Union due to the stringent requirements, Veterinary Services Department Director Stuart Hargreaves said. The E.U. banned beef imports from Zimbabwe in 2001 following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in some parts of the country. He said other markets in Asia with less stringent conditions were being sought.
Hargreaves said the conditions the EU was insisting should be met before resumption of trade were too cumbersome and required huge financial investments which the country could not afford. "The major reason is that the E.U. is insisting that all cattle in the country should be identified to the farm and dipping tank of origin through either ear-tagging or branding." He said although the country wanted to resume the exports, it could not afford to purchase ear tags for all the cattle as well as put up fences in some areas that the government had resettled people.
Other E.U. demands include zoning the country to prevent movement of cattle, erecting fences around national parks to prevent cattle from getting into contact with buffalo, which are believed to carry the foot-and-mouth virus; as well as vaccinating cattle against the disease.
In 2006 inspectors from the E.U. visited the country to assess compliance with the standards ahead of resumption of trade. Zimbabwe enjoyed an annual beef quota of 9 100 tonnes to the E.U. before the 2001 ban.
In an effort to comply with the E.U. demands, fences had been erected around two of the largest national parks and cattle in those areas had been vaccinated. The country had also been divided into zones and laws prohibiting free movement of cattle without authority from the Veterinary Department had been passed, with the police mounting monitoring roadblocks on all sensitive roads throughout the year. In addition, vaccines against foot-and-mouth had been imported from Botswana.
Hargreaves said samples had been sent to Hong Kong and Malaysia in an effort to develop beef markets there.
