Agri-Insight
IN the realm of social interaction and information dissemination, the pervasive nature of gossip and rumour often plays a significant role in shaping perceptions and in some cases, the ultimate reality.
This past week social media was awash with stories to the effect that some people were making brisk business selling gall stones harvested from slaughtered cattle.
Whether true or false, that is a story for another day but such stories must not just be dismissed as unfounded but checked out.
When I saw something about gall stones on Facebook, my mind immediately raced to the picture I had seen a week earlier, which was littered with half-slit open cattle carcasses. The carcasses were half-skinned in most cases with the entire beasts left untouched. The picture naturally left a sour taste in my mouth, as I pondered at what could have been the motive of the slaughters.
Some people that I talked to believe the gory act happened either in Mutoko or Mudzi. They were also not too sure. In a way I began to see some connection with the gall stones story I had got wind of.
A gramme of gall stones is reportedly selling for between US$40 and US$55 in some Asian and European nations where the stones are said to be very popular for making medicines. Cattle gallstones are found in the gallbladders of cattle (cows, oxen, bulls, buffaloes or zebras).
They look like small stones that develop according to the age and diet of the animal and are composed of mineral matter. They are similar to round, oval or pyramidal stones of golden yellow, orange brown or dark brown colour.
Their quality is assessed according to various criteria -- size, colour, state of conservation and texture.
They are known for their therapeutic properties and have been used in Chinese pharmacopoeia for several centuries.
They are hard crystalline masses formed in the gallbladder or in bile ducts from digestive fluids like bile pigments, calcium and cholesterol.
The stones are retrieved at an abattoir during the bile extraction phase. They are not used as jewellery.
Rather, some proponents of alternate Chinese medicine believe gallstones can remove headaches, alleviate low spirits and address sexual dysfunction. Others believe they can be used to treat hepatitis and heart and liver illnesses.
But they are also extremely rare: 75 percent water, the gall stone generally needs to be in pristine condition to hold value. And while they look like heavy pebbles, they generally weigh only in the grammes.
Gallstones from cattle have been historically used in traditional medicine and some cultural practices.
In traditional Chinese medicine, for example, cattle gallstones have been used for various purposes, including treating high fevers, convulsions, and promoting the flow of bile.
However, it is important to note that the efficacy and safety of using gallstones from cattle for medicinal purposes have not been scientifically proven.
In some cultures, there have been beliefs that gallstones from cattle possess medicinal properties and are used in traditional remedies.
However, their use is not supported by modern medical science, and there are no proven health benefits associated with consuming or using cattle gallstones.
If the stories doing the rounds are anything to go by, it means there could be a serious problem stalking the national herd given that the El Nino-inspired drought that rocked the 2023/24 had since forced many farmers to sell cattle at give-away prices to avoid poverty deaths.
The stampede to sell animals was reportedly so noteworthy that Government had to intervene and call farmers to order. The situation that was panning out had the potential to ruin all the efforts the country had been investing in national herd re-building in one fell swoop.
Justifiably, Government announced the suspension of household cattle sales and directed that they be done at village business units where they could be moderated.
The move will obviously create an organised marketing environment in which there is transparency and less manipulation of farmers by opportunistic buyers.
If last season's drought could send farmers into a frenzy of selling cattle for very low prices, then the demand for gallstones that is coming with better remuneration is most likely to generate another stampede that must be avoided at all costs.
It is not that farmers should be told when or where to sell their animals but there is need to ensure that they do not do so at the spur of the moment.
Rushing to transact will also make them prone to manipulation and buyers can easily capitalise on their desperation to offer prices not commensurate with the real value of the animals.
It is a fact that most farmers will dispose animals ostensibly to raise cash to buy grain in the aftermath of the drought that caused massive crop failure countrywide prompting Government to declare the season a state of disaster.
Those farmers who opt to sell animals to raise money to buy grain must do so without forgetting that they will later need the animals, for instance, for draught or other socio-economic obligations.
On the one hand, cattle ownership has traditionally been seen as a measure of one's wealth especially in communal areas.
This is an indisputable fact given that cattle have been used for multiple purposes when farmers would have failed to raise hard cash, which makes them very important and 'a-must-have' kind of possession in communal settings.
This gallstones gold rush, that is, if it comes to that, has the potential to give birth to a rise in cases of cattle rustling, as criminals also move to make easy money.
In one way, farmers must act like the businesspeople that they are by being calculative.
They can slaughter a beast and extract the gallstones, then sell the meat to generate more money instead of selling the whole beast at the usual price, only for the buyer to make thousands of dollars from that same animal later.
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But the farmers must consult people who have knowledge about the whole extraction process of the stones, the processing, storage and marketing to make good money.
Government must, however, see if there can be a way to verify the authenticity of some cattle buyers lest many farmers are fleeced of their animals through botched deals.
The reality on the ground is that most farmers are currently desperate to lay their hands on cash to address various social obligations, which makes them vulnerable to deceitful individuals purporting to be genuine buyers.
There are also fears that farmers can easily sell productive and breeding animals in the name of being proactive yet that would be like shooting themselves in the feet.
Breeding animals must not be tampered with lest the momentum the country had picked in its bid to re-build the national herd is deflated.
It is worth noting that some analysts have since urged Government to capacitate AFC Holdings to go to the village business units where cattle sales will take place and buy all breeding stock sent there for sale.
This will save the country from outright losses should the sales of such animals be allowed to go through.
A herd is not easy to build, as it normally takes years and years of investment to have animals ready to start breeding.
