Georgie
12-30-2003, 05:28 PM
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=8298
Zimbabwe's commercial beef cattle herd, which until three-and-a-half years ago earned more than R14-billion annually from exports, is on the verge of extinction as a result of the country's political upheavals. The national herd, bred over a period of 110 years for survival in Zimbabwe's harsh conditions, stood at 1,4 million animals in 2000 when President Robert Mugabe launched his farm invasion strategy. The invasions initially benefited landless peasants. But they, in turn, were removed from properties when government ministers and their relatives, judges, diplomats and pro-government journalists began laying claim to farms. "By the middle of this year only 210 000 beef cattle survived. At the last count there were fewer than 125 000 animals, but the number will be lower by now," Paul D'Hotman, chief executive of the Harare-based Cattle Producers' Association, said on Friday. "The entire national herd is on the road to extinction and the whole gene pool is being wiped out."
Zimbabwe's commercial beef cattle herd, which until three-and-a-half years ago earned more than R14-billion annually from exports, is on the verge of extinction as a result of the country's political upheavals. The national herd, bred over a period of 110 years for survival in Zimbabwe's harsh conditions, stood at 1,4 million animals in 2000 when President Robert Mugabe launched his farm invasion strategy. The invasions initially benefited landless peasants. But they, in turn, were removed from properties when government ministers and their relatives, judges, diplomats and pro-government journalists began laying claim to farms. "By the middle of this year only 210 000 beef cattle survived. At the last count there were fewer than 125 000 animals, but the number will be lower by now," Paul D'Hotman, chief executive of the Harare-based Cattle Producers' Association, said on Friday. "The entire national herd is on the road to extinction and the whole gene pool is being wiped out."