Resettled farmers rear cattle
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

3 August 2009

By Zwanai Sithole

BULAWAYO - Black farmers resettled in prime hunting areas in Matabeleland
North under the government's chaotic land redistribution have resorted to
rearing cattle in the wildlife conservancies.

Sources in the wildlife rich Gwayi Intensive Conservation Area said this
week that a lot of new farmers were finding it difficult to negotiate the
sector formally run by white farmers. "Most farmers are throwing in the
towel and have converted their farms into cattle rearing farms," said Titus
Ndlovu, one of the black farmers who was allocated a conservancy in the area
in 2003.

Some of the farmers have cut game fences around the conservancies which were
erected to prevent foot-and-mouth disease spreading from buffaloes to
cattle. Cases of the disease have increased as a result.

"There is an urgent for the government to revisit its policy on
conservancies. Wildlife management is highly sensitive sector which needs
farmers who really appreciate the importance of our natural resources. The
current situation where some conservancies have been turned into firewood
ranches and animal ranches do not augur well for the future of this
industry," said Randel Tim who was dispossessed of his Locas ranch by a
senior government
official in 2003.

According to investigations carried out by The Zimbabwean, some of the farms
in this lucrative industry have also been partitioned into small fields of
crops such as maize and groundnuts. There have also been widespread reports
of illegal and uncontrolled hunting of game especially buffaloes, elephants,
kudu and impala. The meat from the animals is openly sold along the
Bulawayo/Victoria Falls highway.

man, this sure comes as a big surprise. i certainly would have thought the local black farmers used to growing an acre of maize would have been able to step right in an properly manage a 50-100 acre parcel- after all, Mugabe was sure such land distribution was the key to Zim's future!!