Farmers like Justin Dlomo, who lives about 120km, north of Bulawayo, have to watch their cattle scrounge for bits of dry grass with a growing sense of dread.
“I don’t even know what to do anymore,” he says. “We are all selling off our livestock. Better that than watch the cattle die.”
But because so many desperate farmers now have animals on the market, a cow that used to sell for $500 now fetches just $150 – or in some places as little as $50.
As climate change strengthens, drought is becoming more frequent and severe in southern Africa, and that – combined with this year’s El Niño phenomenon – is taking a heavy toll on rural lives and economies.
“Water sources have dried up and we are drinking from the same reservoirs as our cattle,” Dlomo said.
Zimbabwe is one of many countries feeling the strain of El Niño, which has dried up rainfall across southern Africa over the last year, killing crops, disrupting hydropower production and prompting local water authorities to enforce stringent water rationing in some areas.
When facing drought in the past, Dlomo would have moved his cattle to a neighbouring region with more rainfall. But this time the drought is widespread, he said.
“We cannot move our cattle anymore. There is no grass everywhere,” Dlomo said.
Livestock experts say parched pastures are causing the deaths of thousands of cattle across the country. Last year, the agriculture ministry’s livestock unit estimated that the national cattle herd stood at 5.3million animals, down from over 6million in 2014. In one district in Masvingo province last year, more than a thousand cattle died because of drought, according to the ministry of agriculture.
Last week, the meteorological service announced that the country should not expect any rain in the coming month.
According to the agriculture ministry, Zimbabwe is experiencing its worst drought since one in 1991-1992 that killed more than one million cattle.
However, while the World Food Programme said last month that millions of Zimbabweans would require food assistance this year, Dlomo said there is no assistance in sight for his dying livestock.
“We have not seen anyone here coming to offer solutions to our plight. It’s like a punishment from God,” Dlomo said.
Simangaliphi Ngwabi, the agriculture ministry’s chief livestock specialist in Matebeleland South province, said there was little water or pasture for cattle in the region, as dry conditions continue across the country.
The livestock department estimates that more than 350000 cattle may face death due to drought in Matebeleland South.
Last year, amid another season of poor rainfall in the country’s southwest, Paddy Zhanda, the deputy agriculture minister in charge of livestock, told farmers to sell their livestock to avoid losses.
By cutting herds, farmers would earn something from their cattle instead of losing them to drought, he said.
Zhanda has told farmers that they must find solutions to the livestock crisis and not wait for the cash-strapped government to intervene.
“We are still praying for rain. It is the only thing that will save us,” Dlomo said. — Reuters