African Cattle Investing - The New Cash Cow?

Cattle have long been considered a measure of wealth across Africa - but it is not just farmers cashing in.

A pioneering app in South Africa lets investors, eager to benefit from rising global beef demand, buy shares in a cow from their mobile phone for as little as 576 rand ($41).

Self-styled "crowd-farming" company Livestock Wealth connects investors with small-scale farmers via its "MyFarmbook" app, where they can buy their own cow and receive interest rates of between 5% and 14% depending on where they put their money.

Launched in 2015 with 26 cows, the project now includes more than 2,000 cows and has taken in 50 million rand, with 10 percent of investors coming from outside South Africa. Groups of investors can buy a whole cow, while individuals can purchase shares in a pregnant cow or young calf.

A pregnant cow costs 18,730 rand and takes 12 months before the newborn calf can be sold for a return, while investing in a calf costs 11,529 rand and takes six months for it to grow enough to be sold.

"We can link small scale farmers to big markets by introducing private capital into the growing phase," said 38 year-old Livestock Wealth founder and CEO Ntuthuko Shezi, who was inspired by his grandparents' farming success.

"The household bank account was a crop," added Shezi of his family experience, standing among a herd of cattle at a partner farm in Vryheid, a ranching town in northern KwaZulu-Natal province.

Livestock contributes around 51% to the agricultural economy in South Africa, with global sheep and beef prices rising after droughts in major producing areas.

Small business consultant Nontokozo Sabela, 34, was once interested in farming - but found the app a better alternative. She bought her first cow in 2016 and earned around 6,000 rand from it. "This way it's easier for me, it's cheaper, it's convenient," said Sabela.


Full article...

Uganda: Cattle 'Birth Certificate' To Aid In Export Beef Traceability Requitrements

The Ugandan government has announced plans to register all farmers and their cattle, including issuing "birth certificates" for the animals, so it can trace their products.

Mr Vincent Ssempijja, the Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries said the international market demands that all countries producing food for the European market should have proof of its traceability.

"They want to know where the [meat and crop] products are coming from. They have been impounding and banning all consignments from Uganda if they find one box with issues,” he said.

“Farmers will be registered and their products given barcodes so that if they find a problem with one box, they look for the source and sort out the problem. We cannot enter lucrative markets unless farmers register."

Mr. Ssempijja added that all the cattle must be registered and given "birth certificates."

"For cattle farmers, it is going to be worse. You will be registered as a farmer, the cow will be registered, numbered and will have a birth certificate because the importers of our products demand meat for cows aged between 15 to 24 months. So we are going to sell [the meat] depending on their age," he added.

According to Mr Ssempijja, an audit team from the European Union is expected in Uganda in September (2019) to ensure that all farmers producing commodities destined for Europe are registered.

"Apart from traceability of the products, the team also wants to ensure that farmers benefit directly because many of them are cheated by middlemen. Government will not cater for those who defy the order when it comes to markets,” he announced, refuting allegations that the registration is aimed at imposing a tax on them.

President Yoweri Museveni, in a message delivered by Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, said Ugandans need to be more competitive in so they can benefit from the international market.

"People want to know what they are buying to eat, where it is coming from, its quality and what they are spending their money on. Registering farmers is a major requirement; we cannot do without it and if we ignore it, we will lose to competition in the international market," he said.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) representative in Uganda, Mr Antonio Querido, said Uganda needs livestock traceability for better product transaction in the international market.

Full article...

Rwanda Cattle Livestock Sector In Strong Recovery

The number of cows in Rwanda grew from just 172,000 in the immediate aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi to 1.3 million currently, according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources..

Milk production went up from over 7.2 million litres per year in 1994 to 817 million litres in 2019, increasing over 110 times over the last 25 years.

Solange Uwituze, the Deputy Director General of Animal Research and Technology Transfer at Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB), told The New Times that Rwanda’s cattle are today composed of 43 per cent crossbreeds, 41 per cent local breeds, and 16 per cent pure breeds.

A big proportion of crossbreeds, Uwituze said, were donated to citizens through the government-backed Girinka scheme (One Cow per Poor Family) under which more than 354,700 cows had been distributed to needy Rwandan households by mid-June 2019.

The initiative has significantly boosted nutrition, farm productivity and household incomes.

“There has been a deliberate effort to improve the genetic potential of our national dairy herd through artificial insemination. Today, we inseminate 100,000 cows per year,” Uwituze said.

Shortly before the Genocide, the country had 600,000 cows but most of them were butchered by Genocide perpetrators during the three-month slaughter.

In the end only 172,000 cows were left by July 1994.

Full article...

Kenya: Human Waste Used To Grow High-Protein Livestock Feed

by Hereward Holland

,Kenyan farmer Victor Kyalo's chickens have doubled the number of eggs they are laying. The reason: Human excrement.

He is feeding them food from a Nairobi-based organics recycling company. Sanergy harvests waste from toilets it operates in a franchise network in Nairobi's sprawling slums and feeds it to fly larvae, which become high-quality animal feed.

Kyalo says his customers have noticed the difference in the past three weeks: yellower yolks and larger eggs. "Before we were getting like five trays (of eggs) per day, but now we are getting 10," Kyalo said. "It’s kind of perfect for me."

...businesses harvesting insects -- either for human consumption or as animal feed -- are growing. They promote themselves as a greener alternative to traditional feed such as soybeans, whose cultivation can lead to deforestation and the overuse of farm chemicals.

Fast food giant McDonald’s and U.S. agricultural powerhouse Cargill Inc are among many large companies studying using insects for chicken feed to reduce reliance on soy protein in the $400 billion-a-year animal feed business.

By 2023 the global edible insect market could triple to $1.2 billion from current levels, market research firm Meticulous Research said last year.

In developing countries like Kenya, where the World Bank says nearly two-thirds of urbanites live in slums, feeding waste to fly larvae could solve both sanitation and nutrition problems.


Faeces from more than two-thirds of Nairobi's inhabitants go untreated because there are not enough toilets. Many others are not cleaned out regularly, Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company said.
During the rains, they often overflow, polluting local waterways. That can make workers ill. Days off slow Kenya's economy by around 1% annually, its Health Ministry said.

David Auerbach co-founded Sanergy eight years ago to deal with sanitation. The waste management franchise provides more than 2,500 toilets to 100,000 people daily.

Beds of writhing black soldier fly larvae feast on a mix of excrement and food waste from hotels and agri-businesses. That produces two products for farmers: fertiliser and animal feed.

In 10 days the larvae munch their way through 70% of the waste, leaving behind a manure laden with nitrogen and calcium, which becomes organic fertiliser.

Once the recycling plant is expanded later this year, Auerbach said it will provide 400 tonnes of fertiliser. Larvae production will ratchet up from 7 tonnes to 300 tonnes per month.

The plump white larvae are boiled in hot water to kill off pathogens, Michael Lwoyelo, managing director of Sanergy, said. The larvae are then sold to animal feed millers, who grind them into powder mixed with other ingredients to create a balanced diet for poultry, pigs and fish.

Frederick Wangombe, an animal nutritionist at Unifeed, a Kenyan animal feed miller that uses Sanergy's black soldier fly product, envisages it replacing fish meal from Lake Victoria, which can contain sand and other impurities, or expensive soy beans from Zambia.

"The egg farmer doesn't want to know what's in the feed, they want to know the performance," he said. (US$1 = 101.1000 Kenyan shillings)

Full article...

Namibia: Hydroponic Grain Sprouts To Counter Drought-Caused Forage Shortage

As farmers clutch at straws to save their livestock in the face of a crippling drought gripping the country, a Namibian company has thrown them a lifeline.

Agritech Namibia is training farmers in hydroponics to produce fodder to be harvested in eight days. This is growing plants in water without any soil.

“We have been training farmers in hydroponics fodder production and we believe this can help them save their livestock at a fraction of the costs of conventional feeds,” said one of the instructors, Lawson Manyika.

So severe is the drought that president Hage Geingob declared it a state of emergency and the government set aside N$570 million (1 US$ = 14.86N$: June 2019 for mitigation programmes.

Manyika said in the face of the drought and high costs of feed, hydroponics fodder gives farmers an affordable and sustainable source of fresh fodder to see the livestock through their drought.

“With hydroponics we grow fodder from maize or barley and harvest in eight days.In fact, from day four it can be fed to poultry, from day six to rabbits and on day seven or eight to cattle, goats and sheep,” he said and advised farmers they can use untreated maize from granaries, as long as it can germinate. He said 40 kilogrammes of seed can give a farmer 400-500 kilos of fodder in seven to eight days.

Explaining the process, Manyika said seed is soaked in water for four hours to absorb enough moisture for germination. It is then put in a germination chamber for 24 hours until sprouts appear, then it is moved to growing trays.

“The seed has enough nutrients and energy for germination and when shoots appear it is able to survive to a certain stage.

“By the third day the plants will be five to 10 centimetres and from day four to six they will reach 20-25 cm. At this stage the seed will still have some nutrients stored so the fodder can be fed to poultry, rabbits and pigs.

“By day seven and eight the plants will be 25 to 30 cm and the seed will be depleted of nutrients. This is the time to harvest for cattle before the farmer incurs extra costs on fertiliser,” Manyika said.

Full arrticle...

Botswana's Cattle-Rearing Culture Threatened By Drought

Longer and harsher droughts are driving a growing share of Botswana's traditional cattlemen to give up their animals.

According to an agricultural census released by Statistics Botswana last year, the country's estimated cattle population has fallen from 2.5 million in 2011 to 1.7 million in 2015. The number of households raising cattle also has plunged, from about 75,500 in 2004 to 39,000 in 2015, a more than 45 percent decline, it noted.

In a country where cattle have long been a rural stash of savings, smaller herds affect how families... feed their children, buy school uniforms, and pay for everything from weddings and to burying the dead.

The loss of cattle also threatens the country's traditions and culture. Cattle skins have long been used to produce traditional dance attire for men, women and children, as well as clothing for traditional chiefs. But more recently cotton cloth and blankets, worn as shawls, have begun to replace hide clothing.

Botswana these days earns 70 percent of its earnings from diamond exports, not agriculture, which today produces less than 3 percent of GDP. But livestock still accounts for 80 percent of the southern African country's agricultural earnings.

Boikhutso Rabasha, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Agriculture, said she worries about the country's continuing ability to produce enough beef. Beef exports from Botswana have been declining for the past 35 years, she said.

Full article...

Agriterra’s cattle ranching operations in Mozambique on target

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

Niger seeks South African investment in livestock sector

Niger is one of the Sahelian countries most affected by poor rains and chronic food insecurity. Many organizations warn of a worsening humanitarian crisis.

With much of the country unsuitable for cropping, a long tradition of keeping livestock is one avenue of agricultural development.

Niger’s Livestock Minister, Mahaman Ehadji Ousmane, is reported by Bloomberg to have sought the assistance of South Africa’s State-owned Industrial Development Corporation to develop his country’s livestock industry.

“We are here to encourage South African investors to help us establish livestock-processing businesses in our country,” Bloomberg reports Ousmane as saying. “We are providing a tax-free investment opportunity for a minimum of 2 billion CFA francs ($4 million) invested.”

Reports say the IDC will offer 4.5 billion rand ($580 million) over the next five years to South African agro- processing projects that seek to promote rural economic development. The IDC planned to increase the fund by a further 1 billion rand annually over the next five years, according to the October 2011 reports.

Minister Ousmane said Niger ‘doesn’t have commercial farming,’ even as 87 percent of the population owns livestock. The country’s subsistence farming community has more than 35 million animals, including cattle, sheep, goats and camels, he said.

Livestock contributes about 22 percent of the nation’s export revenue, Ousmane said. There has been no investment in the country’s livestock and agricultural industries for the last 35 years, he said.

African Agriculture

Cattle destroy crops in Nigeria's Abia State

Chief Dunlop Okoro, the Chairman of All-Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) in Abia says cattle have destroyed crops worth millions of naira in the state.

Okoro told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia that farmlands in Abia rural communities had been repeatedly invaded by cattle with a range of crops destroyed in the process.

 The state’s Ministry of Agriculture decided to set up a committee to ascertain the degree of the damage as well as recommend ways to avert re-occurrence. The intervention of the state government on crop destruction by cattle had averted a serious crisis between herdsmen and their host communities.

``I must say that the issue in Abia State about the cattle menace is what should be described as farm disaster.Many farms have failed because of activities of these cattle. And so I am even appealing to NEMA to come to the aid of Abia farmers because the magnitude of the destruction is so much that the farmers cannot bear it. They should come and give us all the assistance they have been giving to disaster areas. It is a farm disaster in Abia state.’’

Okoro appealed to the state government to either ban herdsmen from the state or provide a grazing route.

``The problem we have now is that the menace is trying to overwhelm the committee because if you tackle a community where they are grazing, tomorrow they will be grazing on other farms.

``If we do not have a grazing reserve or a stock route, the tendency is that the menace will become a hydra-headed problem and the situation could constitute a security breach.’’

Okoro said that it was regrettable that farmers could borrow monies from banks and individuals only to lose their crops to cattle.

``These farmers cannot even cultivate any crop next faming season because they have lost all they have and there is no place to run to,’’

Okoro said that the state could face shortage of certain food crops next year if nothing was done to address the situation.

NAN

Unusual heat kills livestock in Zimbabwe

by Emilia Zindi

High temperatures during the past three months have resulted in the death of several hundreds of livestock in Zimabwe's Matabeleland region owing to a lack of drinking water and grazing pasture.

Binga and Victoria Falls in Matabeleland North at one time recorded 43 and 44 degrees Celsius respectively while Kezi and West Nicholson in Matabeleland South each saw temperatures soar to 40 degrees Celsius.

A recent visit to the provinces revealed a sad scenario where domestic animals could be seen grazing along highways which were the only areas with some grass left. Most grass has also been burnt in veld fires.

Some villagers shed tears as they narrated how they were losing their livestock, which were their only form of wealth, to the heat.

“I lost 10 cattle last month. The animals just collapsed while grazing in the dry pastures. This happened on three consecutive days,’’ said Mr Khulekai Khumalo of Chisuma Village in Hwange. “This is the first time I have lost such a big number of my cattle in many years. The heat that swept across the province left us wondering whether we would survive because even the rivers dried up, forcing us to seek alternative sources of water from the main water pipeline that draws water from Zambezi River to Hwange.’’

He said villagers were now tracking the main pipeline seeking leakages where they would drive their animals to drink from.

“We are digging small ponds where there are leaks along the pipeline. This is where we are driving our animals to drink from while villagers fetch drinking water direct from the leak,’’ said Mr Khumalo.

The old man is now left with eight cattle.

Another villager, Christopher Siyamapeni of Kasase in Ward 10, Hwange, said he lost eight cattle in October due to the heat.

He only discovered the dead animals after a couple of days since he could not locate them.

“It took me five days to locate the carcasses as the animals collapsed more than five kilometres from my homestead. The animals were in a bushy area in the nearby mountain where they usually graze,’’ said Mr Siyamapeni

“I had to sell three of my remaining 20 cattle to buy feeds so that the animals do not go far away in search of pastures. The situation is bad in this area. As you can see we do not even have any pastures in sight,’’ he said.

Some of his cattle could be seen struggling to stand on all four legs as they had become so thin and were being fed whilst lying down.

“I now have 17 cattle left and I intend to sell some more so that I buy more feeds for the remaining ones,’’ added Mr Siyamapeni.

A veterinary officer in the area, Mr Edison Ncube, confirmed the death of domestic animals in the province.

“I received more than 20 reports at the end of October only, where I recorded more than 60 animals which died. There are of course many more villagers who are not reporting perhaps because they are in faraway areas or because they do not just bother to let the veterinary officers know for fear of being ordered to burn the carcasses since we do not allow people to eat the meat,’’ he said.

Mr Ncube said the livestock in the area showed signs of weakness due to a lack of pastures and drinking water.

“We have treated some animals, but the major issue is of feeds and water and as a result we have advised villagers to resort to supplementary feeding,’’ he said.

Another villager from Jambezi Ward 2 under headman Makupiwa Ncube in Victoria Falls, Mr Limukile Ndhlovu, said he had since lost 20 cattle between August and October.

He said he could not report his cases to the veterinary officers since he knew it was because of the heat.

Mr Ndhlovu confessed that his family ate some of the meat whilst the remainder was sold to other villagers because he could not afford throwing the meat away.

“I knew the animals died because of the heat and not any other disease so I had no option but to sell the meat while I ate some of it with my family. It is not easy to just throw away a big animal like that. No one got sick after eating the meat because the animals were disease-free,’’ he said.

He said he was now left with six cattle whose welfare was now his pre-occupation.

Another villager who was faced with the same predicament, Mr Elliot Mahlangu, said he could not wait for his animals to die. Instead he would slaughter any of his animals he suspected would die.

Some of the villagers could be seen tracking the Hwange water pipeline in search of water for themselves as well as their domestic animals.

In Matabeleland South’s Zezani area, the situation was the same with villagers saying they were selling some of their cattle to reduce the loss.

A white farmer was said to be moving around the area buying cattle from villagers for as little as US$200 per beast.

Matabeleland North and South are known for their high volumes of livestock with statistics released late year showing the provinces had a total of more than one million animals.

Matabeleland North had 552 000 with Matabeleland South having 530 000. This saw President Mugabe during the launch of the Presidential Well Wishers’ Special Agricultural Inputs Scheme for the 2011/12 season two weeks ago giving US$500 000 worth of dipping chemicals to the provinces as well as small grains varieties for the farmers in the area.

The Sunday Mail

Big cattle herd worries Botswana

by Mpho Tebele

Botswana is struggling to control the number of cattle in the far north of the country.

Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) CEO David Falepau said the massive cattle herd in Ngamiland was due to absence of adequate slaughter facilities. The area, classified a 'red zone', is prone to outbreaks of foot and mouth disease.

'Ecologically there is an over population in Ngamiland. There are insufficient resources to support the capacity. The capacity is 250 000 and the population of cattle in Ngamiland is double that,' he said.

This has seen the government reach an export agreement with Angola through the Agriculture and Trade ministries. 'The prices there (in Angola) are actually stronger than the South African market and definitely stronger than the Botswana market,' said Falepau.

He said they could have built a big abattoir to cater for the area but 'in the end the only really solution was to export live cattle to Angola'.

'There is no problem with exporting cattle from red zone to a country that has seen the disease already; for instance Angola. 'We have been supplying from the green zone (FMD-free areas) to Angola and that is not sufficient,' said Falepau.

He said the breeding system was also to blame for the huge herd and urged farmers to market their beasts at recommended ages.

'The best thing is to reduce the oxen and put weaners in the feedlot to increase the number of cattle available for the valuable market,' he said.

He said the BMC started slaughtering for the Angolan market on October 31, though they faced logistical challenges.

He said the meat commission had identified another lucrative market in the DRC.

Analysts and Members of Parliament have argued against exports of live beasts, saying such a policy had resulted in the collapse of Botswana's ostrich meat industry as buyers started breeding on their own and competing for markets.

However, Falepau said the chances of Angola competing with Botswana for lucrative beef markets were very slim.

'What are the chances of us building Angola's beef industry through live cattle export? Very little to none, it takes a lot of time and many stages are involved for a country's beef market to evolve to that level.'

The commission called for the supply of 650 specified breeds of cattle for live export to Angola from FMD-free zones.

'The 650 cattle would be a once off consignment to assist Angola establish a superior beef-breeding programme. This takes time and cannot be an immediate success that could pose a serious threat to a well-established beef industry like that of Botswana. The important thing for us to focus on now is controlling our cattle herd,' Falepau said.

The BMC CEO said the Department of Veterinary Services would soon apply to the European Union for resumption of exports to that market.

The EU suspended purchasing from Botswana early this year after expressing dissatisfaction with slaughter conditions in the Southern African country.

Southern Times

Pro Livestock launches “an eBay for livestock”

Pro Livestock Marketing is launching the first comprehensive online sales portal for livestock and breed stock. ProLivestockMarketing.com has designed a virtual sales barn that will allow people to buy and sell cattle, swine, sheep, goats, horses, rodeo stock, show animals, specialty animals, semen and embryos across the country and internationally. The site will help increase opportunity for ranchers, farmers and breeders by eliminating geographic boundaries and connecting buyers as sellers directly online.

“It’s like an eBay for livestock,” President Erik Meier said. “If farmers and ranchers want to remain profitable and grow, our industry needs to better utilize the technology that is available to us. ProLivestock allows a rancher in Texas who is trying to downsize his herd due to drought, to connect with as many potential buyers across the U.S. and Canada as possible, quickly and cost effectively. It’s a simple networking and sales tool that keeps agriculture moving into the future.”

Meier is a fourth generation grain and cattle farmer in Altamont, IL. With 80 head of Angus and crossbred cows on his own farm, Meier is looking at ways to make his own operation more efficient and sustainable for the future.

“For decades, my family has bough and sold cattle in Central Illinois. To date, all our transactions have taken place within 50-100 miles of our farm. Technology allows us to remove geographic constraints and market our products all over the US and across international boarders,” Meier added.

ProLivestockMarketing.com allows sellers to post their products by category, a description, a photo and a video for potential buyers to review. By creating direct relationships, products sold are delivered directly to buyers ensuring less processing time and a cleaner bill of health.

For more information, visit www.prolivestockmarketing.com

South African researchers work with US partners to improve cattle breeds

by Dennis O'Brien

A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist has developed a partnership with colleagues in South Africa that is improving prospects for cattle breeders in that African nation—and could improve them for breeders around the world.

Efforts by Mike MacNeil, an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) geneticist at the agency's Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory in Miles City, Montana, are designed to equip South Africa's scientists with better research tools to help cattle breeders and farmers in remote, underdeveloped areas. ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency, and this research supports the USDA priority of promoting international food security.

Much of the research focuses on Nguni cattle, an indigenous breed popular among poor and emerging farmers in South Africa because of its fertility, tolerance to harsh conditions, resistance to ticks and tolerance to tick-borne diseases. In a recent study, MacNeil and his colleagues examined ways to address a chronic problem: Nguni that are too small and deposit too much fat before reaching market weight, making them undesirable for commercial feedlot operations.

They examined factors that breeders could consider in trying to improve progeny of their Nguni cows by mating them with larger and beefier Angus and Charolais bulls. The resulting crossbred ideally would retain the Nguni toughness and adaptability, but would take on the improved beef aspects of the Angus and Charolais sires. The research, published in the South African Journal of Animal Science, built on MacNeil's work at Fort Keogh on development of crossbreeding systems and breeding objectives for U.S. domestic breeds.

Olivia Mapholi, a scientist with the South African Agricultural Research Council who studied under MacNeil at Fort Keogh, continues to consult him as she searches for quantitative trait loci (QTLs), or areas of the cattle genome, that confer the ability to tolerate tick-borne diseases. Mapholi is crossing tick-resistant Nguni with tick-susceptible Angus and is looking for genes that confer resistance to ticks. Her research could benefit beef production in any part of the world where ticks are a problem, including the United States.

USDA-ARS

Experts debate how livestock herders should handle drought

by Cathy Majtenyi

Experts recently met in Nairobi to look at options for mitigating drought-induced food shortages. They say pastoralism is the best land-use practice in the region's drylands and are looking at ways to help herders maintain their lifestyle.

Herders have been getting a bad environmental rap. The common thinking is that large groups of animals wandering around a parched, drought-stricken territory further degrade the land and water supplies.

The best strategy, popular opinion suggests, is to settle herders onto farms to grow their own food, especially in times of severe food insecurity.

Bad idea, says David Mwangi, researcher with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute.

“Pastoralists would move in search for pasture, and also water, because what then would happen, if you are in a small area, the moment the water is exhausted, you’d have to move to the next area where there is water. It gives the area you have left time to re-generate and by the time you come back through the loop, this area now has pasture to graze,” Mwangi said.

But, says Mwangi, farming in arid and semi-arid areas - especially during a drought - is not sustainable or even realistic, given the absence of water, poor soil quality, and the difficulties of implementing irrigation.

Mwangi and other experts say that pastoralism is the most efficient use of arid and semi-arid lands, both environmentally and economically.

Jeff Hill, director of policy for the Bureau of Food Aid at USAID, describes the value of arid and semi-arid lands to the region’s economies. Arid and semi-arid lands comprise some 80 percent of the Horn of Africa. “Their livestock-based economies drive a value chain which constitutes 35 to 40 percent of agricultural GDP (gross domestic product) in Ethiopia and 45 to 50 percent of the agricultural GDP in Kenya. In Somalia, livestock systems fuel the economy,” Hill said.

Livestock is sold for cash, as well as providing meat, milk and other by-products to families. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development estimates that over 90 percent of meat consumed in East Africa comes from pastoralist herds. Kenya’s pastoral livestock sector is estimated to be worth some $800 million.

But herders and their lifestyles have long been looked down upon, viewed as being “backwards.” Arid and semi-arid lands have often been excluded in government planning, with very few roads and other infrastructure being built.

Hill says it is only recently that the Kenyan and other governments have recognized the value of arid and semi-arid lands and have put the development of these areas into national plans such as Kenya’s Vision 2030.

Experts say ensuring that herders and their livestock have access to grazing and watering areas - especially during the dry season - is critical to preventing famine in arid and semi-arid lands. But conflict over these resources and poor roads and other infrastructure are some of the factors that restrict herders’ access.

During their meeting this week, scientists and other experts discussed concrete ways to support herders and their lifestyle.

Kenya Agriculture Research Institute’s Mwangi describes a project in Kenya’s Chalbi Desert in which grass is grown to feed livestock. He says communities need to be creative with the resources they have, giving the example of rangeland near the Tana River in Eastern Kenya.

“What would happen if we developed a system where we grow fodder and pasture along the river, and the animals are taken off from the range and finished nearer to the market? What we really need is a system, and that is what has been really lacking,” Mwangi said.

He says more efforts also need to be put into camel rearing, as camels tend to be the only livestock that lactate during a drought.

Herder Nixon ole Parmisa describes for VOA more support strategies. “If there is a drought, we need to have some drought mitigation measures. Now you warn the community (that) the drought is coming, so what do you do? Sell your livestock. Maybe the government will buy - the Kenya Meat Commission - at a good price, so sell. And the community will be very much willing to sell,” Parmisa said.

A recent report by the International Livestock Research Institute lists additional pastoral-support strategies, including the construction of roads, access to market information, and schemes that pay herders for wildlife conservation and other ecological services.

VOA News

Better grazing practices hold key to Kenyan droughts

by David Western

Failed rains have tipped the balance from poverty to starvation for 12 million in the Horn of Africa. But they don't explain the depth of the tragedy, any more than the growing threat of climate change explains the recent decades of rangeland deterioration.

Early warning systems have improved greatly since the Sahelian disaster of the 1970s. Several agencies, including the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET), predicted severe drought in 2011.

But proxy measures don't predict the depth of droughts. In contrast, data we've collected in southern Kenya over the past four decades with community resource assessors not only show the necessity of monitoring pasture on the ground, but also point to the causes of worsening droughts.

Such data also show that a successful transition from faltering subsistence economies to self-sustaining development depends on addressing the human causes of the tragedy.

Pasture shortages

Pasture in Kenya has declined steadily since the 1980s, and has recovered more slowly with each successive drought as pressures on land have grown. Livestock cycles now determine pasture abundance and the depth of drought far better than rainfall.

Traditional pastures set aside for periods of drought were exhausted by years of compressed grazing long before the rains failed in 2009, with the result that pasture shortages have grown more common and last longer, despite no drop in rainfall. As a result, Kenya's rangelands were abandoned as herders dispersed to the highlands and into neighbouring states in search of forage. Two-thirds of their livestock died in the process, yet this drew little attention in the media or from politicians.

Droughts are now spreading faster and persisting longer as herders move farther in search of pasture, and social bonds and networks break down. Pastures are recovering slower as herders and speculators truck in and re-stock herds with animals from elsewhere.

Traditional practices

Traditional grazing practices in the rangelands demonstrate the adaptability of pastoralism, and gives pointers to how the problems in the rangelands can be addressed.

Pastoralism is an efficient way of using land in arid regions. Like wildlife herds, herders get larger milk yields and higher rates of calf survival by migrating to the greenest pastures and using drought reserves during harsh times.

Seasonal livestock movements give pastures time to recover, enabling them to support large herds and a high human population in dry regions. Wide social networks, as well as close reciprocal ties among neighbours and neighbouring clans, insulate the individual herder against bad times.

All this allows herders to spread their risk and restock their herds faster than a solitary rancher in fenced rangelands...

Systemic problems

So why is there a now crisis in eastern Africa?

The capacity of pastoral economies has been overwhelmed by a ten-fold rise in pastoral population over the last century. Per capita livestock holdings have shrunk, and pastoralist lands and water resources have been annexed for parks, farms and towns. Shrinking lands, restricted movements and persistent grazing are weakening grass growth.

In short, the environmental problems faced by the pastoral lands are systemic.

But 2011 should not have been the tragedy it is: a press release by the Kenya Meteorological Department, for example, shows that four of six stations in northern Kenya had higher rainfall deficits in the 1980s and 1990s than in the last two years.

The current tragedy stems from the remoteness and marginalisation of the northern pastoralists, as well as the effects of civil war, banditry, soaring food prices, mismanagement of national grain reserves and political failure.

Foundations for development

There are no quick fixes for these drought-prone areas. The main priority is to get food and health care to the starving millions. But beyond emergency relief, we must lay the foundations of sustainable development in the marginal lands.

Development will falter unless built on two pillars. First, the land and resource rights of marginalised pastoralists that were usurped by governments must be restored. Property rights will give back to pastoralists the security of tenure needed to conserve resources against outsiders, to counter droughts, to invest in the land and to leverage capital inputs for development. Pastoralists in southern Kenya who have been granted such rights are developing fast, and famine has receded in this region, despite severe droughts.

Second, the institutions and governance that underpin development must be based on common interests. The land-owners associations that have sprung up in Kenya over the last decade show how locally-adapted, self-assembling governance can promote development. These associations have re-established grass banks and seasonal grazing regimes, conservancies, ecotourism, cattle associations, enterprise groups, community scouts, and resources assessors, as well as Lale'enok information centres that gather and deploy information about development opportunities.

Pastoralists are also benefitting from modern technology. For example, cell phones link up community members, and provide both market information and mobile banking facilities. The landowner associations have now come together as the Kenya Rangeland Coalition to mobilise community conservation development initiatives.

If these two pillars of development are built on strong reciprocal ties, mutual interests and the skill of local communities in governing their own resources, famine will recede, the economic transition will be self-sustaining, and climate change will become more manageable.

David Western is Chairman of the African Conservation Centre, in Nairobi, Kenya.

SciDev.net

Tanzania to improve livestock sector

The move to train farmers in modern livestock keeping is probably one of the government’s most welcome initiatives. It is also long overdue.

With 18.5 million head of cattle, 3.6 million sheep and 13 million goats, Tanzania ranks third in livestock keeping in Africa after Ethiopia and Sudan.

Our huge livestock population notwithstanding, the country has had little to show for it. Tanzanians drink the least milk compared to people in other East African countries. Most of our households consider meat a luxury, to be eaten only during special occasions. Many of our livestock keepers have continued, over the years, to value numbers rather than the quality of their animals.

With only 2.4 million cattle, 2.3 million goats and 370,000 sheep, Botswana boasts higher animal product exports than Tanzania.We have to address quality concerns if we are to compete effectively.

According to Livestock minister David Mathayo, the government will, in the 2011/12 financial year, train 5,000 livestock keepers on quality animal husbandry. That is the way forward, for huge numbers of animals are not only a burden to pastoralists but they are also ruinous to the environment.

Tanzania has the potential to be a global animal products exporter, but that will be realised only when our livestock keepers are informed on improved methods of tending to their animals.

The Citizen

Livestock management is key to less desertification

by Jean Ekeroth

Livestock is the only management tool available to stop the increasing desertification associated with climate change, according to a grazing management pioneer.

Allan Savory of the Savory Institute and Africa Centre for Holistic Management (ACHM)said even though his assessment was unpopular and contradicted conventionally accepted scientific knowledge, history showed human management of livestock was at fault.

Savory said deserts were advancing faster as agricultural practices produced more eroding-soil than food, with conservative estimates at around four tonnes of eroding soil per human every year.

"It's not a case of adapting to climate change, we need to address it," he said.

Savory's ideas started forming during his time as a game ranger, when he noticed the African savannah could support extremely large herds of herbivores year after year without degradation. By contrast, land destocked according to accepted optimum grazing management practice and allowed to return to wilderness was becoming increasingly desertified.

The prevailing academic view was that resting rangeland was the best practice but Savory concluded that areas of occasional heavy impact grazing that mimicked natural grazing patterns actually improved vegetation growth...

full article...Farmonline

Ethiopia plans ambitious resettlement of people buffeted by drought

by William Davison


As aid agencies scramble to feed some 11.5 million people suffering from what is being called the Horn of Africa's worst drought in 60 years, Ethiopia's government is enacting a resettlement program that it hopes will be a long lasting solution to a longstanding burden.

In its far-flung regions, including the vast east, populated mostly by ethnic Somali pastoralists, Ethiopia wants to group its scattered semi-nomadic peoples into permanent settlements, largely ending a mobile lifestyle that has sustained people for centuries.

In many ways the plan sounds all too familiar. During the catastrophic famine in the mid-1980s, Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam's Marxist junta forced highlanders across the country to fertile lowlands. Tens of thousands perished en route or died in their new, alien surroundings. This time, however, the government says resettlement is voluntary and consists of regional destinations instead of a mass, cross-country exodus.

In the Somali region, which has just under 1.5 million people out of about 5 million in need of food aid, the idea is to create villages near rivers and build irrigation systems, roads, health clinics, and schools. The government sees this as a life-saving measure and as a way to help the pastoralists benefit from Ethiopia's double-digit economic growth. A government pastoralist project with the long-term aim of resettlement will receive some of the $500 million for "building long-term drought resilience" in the region, the World Bank said in late July.

"Especially for pastoralists, the solution is development interventions," says Agriculture State Minister Mitiku Kassa, "water-centered development. Most areas have surface water and there are rivers."

In the dry regions of Somali and Afar, the government hopes 500,000 people in each will resettle, while in the western states of Gambella and Benishangul-Gumuz it wants 450,000 to move.

The pastoralist lifestyle is becoming difficult to sustain, says Eugene Owusu, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Ethiopia. "Therefore they need to look at alternative development solutions." Although initially donors were slow to support the program, he has "no doubt" it could have a transformative effect on struggling communities "if it's done well."

But some activists say the programs overseen by local governments will be coercive and rob people of their ancestral lands. They cite an incident in Gambella in which a family that was reluctant to move had their huts torched, possibly by local officials. Others say giving Ethiopia's estimated 9 million pastoralists services without impeding their traditional lifestyles is a better way.


...herders who live there can deal with occasional dry spells, but the frequency has pushed coping mechanisms to breaking points, aid workers say.


"When they are hit with several dry seasons in a row, the result is a crisis," says David Wightwick of Save the Children (STC) UK.  "And at the moment it's going from crisis to catastrophe."


Pastoralists, who dominate a profitable livestock trade, are used to weathering harsh conditions, says Holly Welcome Radice, an STC Ethiopia livelihoods expert, and their customs should be supported instead of transformed, "Historically pastoralists are very adaptable and resilient because they live in harsh places," she says. "They are there because nothing else can be done there."

While pastoralists should have access to public services, cellphones, and the Internet, a mass change is unwise because, she says, "these are environments that are not able to sustain huge sedentary populations."

Ms. Radice says the solution lies in working with historically marginalized communities to take measures such as restoring pasture and increasing vital mobility hindered by private landholdings, borders, or conflicts. "You have to understand what is really causing the crisis – it's not just the failure of rains. It has to do with people's failure to access services; it's people's failure to have a political voice."

But Ethiopia is not known for buckling to foreign charities and it's almost certain that views like Radice's will not shape the pastoralists' future.

"For the long term, the government wants to support pastoralists to pursue sedentary lives along the banks of primary rivers," says Assefa Tewodros, coordinator of the state's Pastoral Community Development Project. The pressures of land degradation, conflict, climate change, and population spikes, he says, mean this is the only option, as the hinterlands are too vast for the government to provide services to dispersed herders.


Christian Science Monitor

Land deals, Tanzania: green revolution or green plunder?

by Gerald Kitabu

When a local consultant firm, Serengeti Advisers, heard about a much marketed, ‘Green revolution’ or Kilimo Kwanza as it’s known here, the firm quickly grabbed the golden opportunity and invited a U.S.-based giant investor, Agrisol Energy to bring millions of dollars in Tanzania.

But, what the local firm and its partners from the U.S. didn’t figure out was what would be the reactions of locals whose livelihood have been built on the socialism mode of production.

Today, what was once considered to be the biggest deal in East Africa in commercial farming has been termed a massive land grabbing. The project, involving a total of 300,117 hectares, has attracted thousands of critics at both local and international level.

Hundreds of villagers have cause to be irked by the paradox of their land being so highly valued but simultaneously so abysmally cheap, given the spirited struggle to wrest it from British colonialists in the 1950s, and yet, nearly 50 years after independence, leasing it to foreign investors for a mere Sh200 per hectare per annum.

The paradox is being played out in Rukwa Region’s Mpanda District, whose council has signed a controversial Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an American-based firm, AgriSol Energy LLC, under which the latter will be charged that miserly sum for huge tracts of land on which it will operate a large-scale agricultural project, effective next month.

While Serengeti Advisers and their partners as well as the Tanzanian government though theirs was move to attract Foreign Direct Investment in commercial farming, to critics, the deal is another land grabbing done by the pimps of globalization.

Serengeti Advisers are strongly defending the deal, calling it a pro-growth not only to the investors, but also to the country.  But in a country where people are so suspicious about foreign investors, their defense seems to nosedive as activists joins their hands with both local and foreign media to nail the massive land deal.

Besides the peanuts in lease fees, the project is riddled with a host of problems, including resistance by the many of the (resident Burundian) refugees to leave, citing the Sh300,000 per head compensation as meager and demanding, instead, between Sh between 13-19 million.

Contentious, too, is AgriSol’s condition that the government creates a regulatory framework for use of genetically modified (GM) crops, which Tanzania has not yet approved. Modified crops kill local seeds and cause soil infertility.

Those within and in the proximity of the locations in question accuse local leaders of being insensitive to the value of land...

...the MoU says that the initial term of the certificate of occupancy shall be 99 years lease, and already AgriSol is conducting a feasibility study, including examining soil samples for agriculture, prompting fears in some quarters, of the ugly, peace-threatening Zimbabwe-like eventualities.

Under the contract, for any disputes that may arise, arbitration shall be held in London, England, pursuant to the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)...

An investigation conducted by The Guardian on Sunday revealed that the residents and leaders living near or adjacent to the settlements are not well informed of the presumed benefits from the investment, let alone participation in the whole investment process.

One of the signatories to the MOU, Idd Simba, who signed as the Chairman of AgriSol Tanzania Limited, says in one of the documents that AgriSol will stabilize local food supplies, create jobs develop new markets for agriculture improvement and spur investment in local infrastructure improvement.


However, investigations conducted by this newspaper revealed that creating jobs for locals is not a priority for AgriSol. AgriSol says it will bring in outside farmers including South African farm managers to provide expertise.

One of the documents in The Guardian on Sunday’s possession reads in part: “The Tanzanian Prime Minister understands the country and the capabilities and what we need to bring in. They quite frankly think we will need to bring in outside farmers and they are fine with bringing in South African farm managers….the white South African farm managers , to be able to provide general expertise.”

This indicates that AgriSol’s stand contradicts that of AgriSol Tanzania Limited which claims that the AgriSol LLC will create jobs for locals and spur the economy.

A visit by our reporter who was part of a fact-finding mission at Katumba and Mishamo commissioned by the Land Rights Research and Resources Institute, HAKIARDHI, revealed that residents living in proximity to the two tracts are completely ignorant of the investor’s details.

Faustine Msonga, the Chairman of Ndui station village, Litapunga ward, Katumba with a total of 1650 villagers, said the rumours about AgriSol and the resettlement of refugees to other regions started in 2009. He said that since then, there is no formal meeting between the villagers and the investor to clarify on some contentious issues the villagers want to know, but worse still, not a single top official from district level has visited their village or ward.

Instead they got the information about Agrisol to invest in the area last year through a ward councilor and a few weeks later, through an aide to Prime Minister Mizengo Peter Pinda.

He explained: “When he told us that Agrisol was coming to invest in Katumba, many people living adjacent to the camp were angry and others asked under what terms and conditions the company was coming to invest” shortly afterwards, came Assistant to the PM to clarify on the issue, but we are still worried,”

The councilor said that people were worried about the 99 year lease term, saying that such investments would plunge the country into other conflicts with locals in case the investors don’t adhere to the laws of the land.

Another concern is that the increasing population will end up fighting over the little spare land.

Contacted for comment, Litapunga ward councilor, Godfrey Lusambo, who has vowed to mobilize people to protest against the investor, saying that during a meeting between the Prime Minister, district officials and Agrisol company, he was not invited, an omission that prompted him to question the legality of the investor and seriousness of the government. He questioned 99 years lease and arbitration to be held in London, alleging that the contact had whiffs of corruption and ran counter to national interests.

Lusambo said that none of the councilors living close to the settlements were part of the 10-person delegation that went to Iowa, US, to acquaint themselves with the AgriSol company. Instead councilors were selected from relatively distant areas...

“We don’t know the investor...so if the investor will not give satisfying answers to our questions, we are planning to boycott his investment,” Lusambo warned.

He further said that the villagers had no knowledge of the type of crops the investor is going to grow, let alone out-growers schemes.

In an interview, ward executive officer Augustine Wanga, whose ward has 58,800 refugees and 1300 Tanzanians living in Isenga and Bulamata villages, said that he has never seen the AgriSol representatives.

“We don’t know them; how can the investment be imposed on us while people at the village level do not know? We just hear that they decided to sit as a full district council and passed the decision without our consent,” he lamented.

Executive Officer for Bulamata village, Hamisi Mayunga says he, too, is ignorant of the investor and doesn’t know how his people will benefit from the investment.

Buchumi Nikodem, a doctor at Mishamo health centre, says the investment is top-down rather than vice-versa, something which gave them a hard time on whom to ask in case something goes wrong in the process of investment.

“A 99 lease term is a very long time, it is simply grabbing the land and these types of contracts may plunge the nation into another Zimbabwe,” he noted.

Andrea Helmashi, a refugee who has lived for some 30 years at Mnyaki, Katumba, is against the evacuation, saying the Sh300,000 per head compensation is not enough to buy a new plot and other requirements wherever someone would be relocated.

The District Commissioner, Dr. Rajab Rutenge, emphatically defended the investment, saying AgriSol is a serious investor who wants to develop and improve agriculture.

On the use of genetically modified crops, the DC simply said there is no doubt about that because Tanzanians have eaten such foods in the past, such as the yellow-coloured (maize) flour nick-named “Yanga.”

“I am an expert in food security, Tanzania is faced with food insecurity, if we want to solve this problem we must involve investors like AgriSol,” he said.

On his part, the Mpanda District Administrative Secretary Laurent Kanoni, said that the investors will increase production, markets, create jobs and processing industries will be opened.

However, on a surprising note, Kanoni said that his district is no longer accepting livestock keepers from outside the district because of little land and land degradation. But when asked why his district was accepting AgriSol which is also coming to invest in livestock, he quickly said that Agrisol’s investment in livestock is advanced and better. .

While the District Administrative Secretary defends AgriSol’s investment in livestock, Masanja Musa Katambi, an activist who is also the secretary for Rukwa region livestock keepers’ community, says Mpanda District is one of the districts which is faced with land scarcity that has triggered conflicts and killings between farmers, investors and livestock keepers.

“People are asking why the land should not be given to livestock keepers to solve the increasing conflicts between them and farmers. There is no land for livestock keepers, sometimes they are forced to lure game wardens at Katavi National Park to allow them feed their cattle there due to scarcity of pastures,” he said.

AgriSol Energy LLC is partnering with Iowa-based Summit Group and Global Agriculture Fund of the Pharos Financial Group and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University. The Tanzanian arm of AgriSol Energy, AgriSol Energy Tanzania Limited, a Tanzanian Investment and consulting firm will provide the domestic front for the operation.

* Correspondent Gerald Kitabu filed this report at the culmination of a fact-finding trip to Mpanda District, Rukwa Region, sponsored by HAKIARDHI.

IPP Media

Kenyan herders kill animals as drought worsens

Butchered sheep and goats are strung up in a thorn tree ready for cooking in this remote north Kenyan village, as though the people are preparing a giant celebration feast.

But there is no party here and the mood is grim: in desperation, the villagers are killing the animals upon which their lives depend, rather than see them die in the extreme drought sweeping the region.

“We are not happy to have to kill our animals,” said Elema Warrio, an elderly herder, looking on sadly at the 25 carcasses, the latest to be killed in a weekly cull. “We would be happy if there was grazing and water for them, but since we don’t have a choice, we can only kill them,” he added.

Some 12 million people across the Horn of Africa are struggling from the worst drought in decades, with two regions in southern Somalia in famine. Tens of thousands of people have died, as the international community scramble to provide emergency relief.

“This is the worst drought we have had, and we have lost hope of seeing rain,” said Galgalo Wato, a herder and father of seven, waving at the vast and dusty scrubland surrounding the village of 700 people. The land here is too dry for crop farming, and the community depends entirely on animals for their livelihoods.

“In previous droughts we would lose 20 or 30 animals, but then the rains would come and the calves would be born,” Wato added. “It was never as long as this.”

From a herd of 120 cows, 80 goats and seven donkeys once used to carry water, Wato has just three calves left.

“They are the only hope I have,” he said sadly, stroking the flank of one of the precious animals, which stay in the front half of the family’s grass thatch hut.

His family now survive off monthly handouts from the World Food Programme; some grain, cooking oil, beans and other basic goods.

“It is not enough at all,” he added. “That is only for survival.”

But there is little alternative. With so many people desperate to cash in their livestock — which for the pastoralist life, is all the community’s wealth — the market has collapsed.

Here in the Sololo district of northern Kenya, prices have slumped by two-thirds, but several herders say they often cannot even sell their thin and sickly animals at all.

“They are not interested in the market in the animals,” Warrio said.

The few animals still left in the village’s thorn-walled cattle enclosure show their ribs and bones sharp through their skin.

So aid agencies support the slaughtering of animals, providing cash payments closer to earlier market rates for those who volunteer to cull their herd, and then handing the meat out to the most needy in the community.

“The animals would probably die soon with the drought anyway,” said Ibrahim Adan, who heads a local aid agency running the slaughter scheme in the region for the past five months, a programme funded by the European Union.

“So de-stocking has two benefits; injecting cash into the economy so that the people can buy goods in the market, and providing food for the vulnerable households.”

Once the animals are butchered, lines of mothers dressed in colourful wraps and carrying young children line up.

Fifty families each get half a sheep or goat, much of which will be dried in the baking sun to store it, so it can be rationed for the coming days.

But few are hopeful of relief from the drought any time soon, the animals here are running out, and the community is eating the livestock it needs for long-term survival.

Without outside help, the community would collapse. Aid agencies now also supply water tankers to truck in water for the community.

Before, women and children had to trek 22 kilometres (14 miles) with the community’s remaining donkeys through the baking heat to reach the nearest water point still running.

Giant plastic water tanks are also being set up to store rainwater — when it comes.

But the next rains are not due for another three or four months, and the peope are not optimistic for the future.

“Things are not well here,” said Warrio. “If the next rains do not come, what will we do then?”

Capital FM