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Message: [QUOTE="Munyaradzi Mafaro, post: 52035, member: 636"] Zimbabwe has launched comprehensive feed formulation training across Matabeleland South Province through its Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services. The program teaches communal farmers to create nutritious animal feed from locally sourced materials as drought protection measures gain momentum. Last year witnessed the devastating loss of more than 19,000 cattle due to El Nino drought conditions. Farmers have since embraced silage production and fodder cultivation as essential survival strategies. Deputy Director Bhekilizwe Nube oversees the initiative that began this past June. The cascading training model educates instructors first, then extension officers, and finally reaches individual farmers throughout the region. Self-reliant feed production enables communal farmers to weather climate variations more effectively while reducing livestock mortality rates significantly. Agricultural officials emphasize that even single animal deaths from feed shortages represent preventable tragedies. Irrigation farmers receive encouragement to allocate portions of their land specifically for high-yield fodder grasses and crops. The provincial goal establishes fodder cultivation on at least twenty percent of all irrigated agricultural land. Government planners seek to establish large-scale fodder irrigation systems and hay production facilities since commercial feed remains financially inaccessible for smallholder operations. Provincial authorities target the production of 635,000 hay bales before August concludes to supply affordable feed options. Districts like Beitbridge and Umzingwane demonstrated fewer cattle deaths through proactive drought mitigation adoption. The training supports the National Livestock Recovery and Growth Plan, which aims to expand the national herd from 5.5 million to six million animals by 2025. Enhanced vaccination programs and artificial insemination complement these feed security efforts. [/QUOTE]

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