AR-News: (Africa) Zimbabwe: Cattle And Game Ranching Proposed for Non-Arable Land

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

The ZCFU was discussing the incorporation of both livestock and wildlife 
farmers into the fund allocated for the livestock rebuilding programme with the 
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).
"With the money that has been availed by the RBZ and the Land Bank (formerly 
Agri-bank) we are going to make sure we complement this with adequate support 
extension services and advice," Mugabe said.
The ZCFU livestock resuscitation plans come at time when the national cattle 
herd has been depleted by three years of consecutive drought.
Cattle breeders across Zimbabwe were forced to sell or abandon thousands of 
animals following the invasion of farms in February 2000 by war veterans.
The wildlife population has also been depleted by the resettled people, who 
began poaching indiscriminately soon after settling in areas where game was 
plentiful.
Edward Mkhosi, former chief livestock and land use planner for the state-run 
Agriculture Rural Development Authority (ARDA) in Matabeleland South, said the 
ZCFU's plans for both livestock and wildlife farming were likely to be upset 
by regular outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).



full story:

http://allafrica.com/stories/200404120065.html 
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