Beef cattle production and management
Practical Action
1. Marketing
This is a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need
and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others.
Marketing aims to service three distinct groups of need, which are:
Basic physical needs, eg food, shelter
Social needs
Individual needs
Supply and demand
Supply is the quantity of products that producers can offer for sale whilst demand is the quantity
of products that consumers can buy.
The market operates using the above laws of supply and demand.
Beef Cattle Market chains in Mbire District
Below are the market chains most farmers in the district use when selling their beef cattle.
1. Producers - Consumers
2. Producers - Abattoir - Retailers - Consumers
3. Producers - Middlemen - Informal market - Consumers
4. Producers - Middlemen - Abattoir - Retailers - Consumers
Chain 1 and 3 are informal and are used by most farmers. Chain 1 is usually conducted at local
level where producers sell beef cattle to each other, other local residents, for example civil
servants working at clinics, schools etc, and passers by. Chai n 4 is the most common marketing
practice used by farmers capturing approximately 80% of beef cattle marketed in the lower
Zambezi Valley. Chain 3 and 4 are driven by the desire of middlemen to generate incomes.
Making money the business of middlemen, and in doing so they exploit farmers when they are
most vulnerable, for example at the beginning of the summer season when they need money to
buy inputs. Chain 2 is formal and producers take their cattle to abattoirs and are paid according
to weight and carcass grading after slaughter. This is the most viable chain but most difficult as
most farmers lack access
to transport therefore becoming vulnerable to middlemen.
Factors affecting beef cattle marketing in Mbire
Poor access to market.
Prohibitive transport costs.
Low production and offtake (less than 10%).
Lack of public infrastructure and services for cattle marketing.
Poor quality meat due to poor management.
Lack of a clear market channel and information on standards/grades, price and demand.
The beef cattle marketing pattern is seasonal and follow the availability of seasonal income
after crop sales.
Lack of a formal institutional network governing trade in livestock and livestock products but
sanitary regulations concerning production and movement.
Value Chain
This specifically refers to the addition of value as the product progresses from primary producers
to final consumer. Improving market chain performance is the goal of many enterprises and value
chain concepts are at the heart of sound agro enterprises processes.
The Value Chain Analysis is a tool for working out how to create the greatest possible value for
customers. The more value created on any commodity, the more goods are bought at a relatively
high price. The value chain of livestock and livestock products includes producers, traders,
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