Silibaziso watches as a herdboy prepares to paddock about twenty head of cattle at her village in Plumtree.

The border town lies about 100 kilometres southwest of Bulawayo and is known for cattle that stray into neighbouring Botswana.

Plumtree is a low rainfall area that has traditionally been one of the
country’s cattle ranching regions, and porous borders have made it a hub for restless cattle.

Despite these challenges, local communal farmers have made strides to ensure their livestock defines their social standing.

At her homestead, Silibaziso gives the young man instructions on how to care for the cattle and make sure none are lost due to illegal border crossing or stock theft.

“It is especially difficult because these cows will go anywhere to look for water and pastures,” she said. Silibaziso belongs to a pitifully small fraction of women who own cattle in Zimbabwe, according to recent data. She inherited her herd of cattle from her deceased husband, and according to the World Bank, Silibaziso is one of a few women who make up 35 percent of women who own cattle in Zimbabwe. In a report released recently, the World Bank says female communal farmers own a little over a third of cattle in the country, which is more than the 9 percent of cattle owned by female commercial farmers.

This means 65 percent of the cattle found in communal areas is owned by men, while men own almost 100 percent of cattle on commercial farms at 91 percent.

These huge cattle ownership disparities are happening despite the
Food and Agriculture Organisation noting that “approximately 80% of women live in the communal areas where they constitute 61% of the farmers and provide 70% of the labour.”

It is because of this that the World Bank has raised concerns about the imbalance of wealth ownership in Zimbabwe’s agriculture sector, with cattle ownership offering a glimpse into women’s exclusion in long term efforts to give them ownership of the means of production.

For Silibaziso and many others, widowhood has been the only way they have been able to own cattle at a time very few women are able to invest in cattle as a means of long-term wealth creation.

“I took over ownership of these cows when my husband died ten years ago. I have struggled to grow the herd,” Silibaziso said.

When her husband died, the family had 25 cows, Silibaziso said, but she was forced to sell some of the cattle to raise her grandchildren.

“When some of them (grandchildren) came of age and left the country, that was when I began slowly trying to rebuild the herd,” she said, highlighting the challenges faced by communal farmers who must balance wealth maintenance and economic survival. Like many widows in Zimbabwe, Silibaziso has been left to raise grandchildren after their parents either died or left their rural homes to look for economic opportunities outside the country.

By rural standards, Silibaziso is considered a wealthy old lady to own such a large number of cattle, yet she remains one of a few according to the World Bank.

These cattle owners lack access to funds to maintain their herds, and in a time of drought, must watch helplessly as their little wealth gets walloped. Silibaziso is one of the lucky few who have been able to inherit cattle from their late spouses and maintain the herd against increasing odds.

What has promoted the exclusion of women from owning livestock are cultural traditions that bequeath a deceased husband to his oldest son. Analysts say this has further perpetuated the imbalance of wealth ownership in the agriculture sector despite efforts by both government and agencies to promote women’s participation.

As the World Bank says, more requires to be done to reverse the
exclusion of women in not just livestock ownership but across the
whole agriculture sector.

The European Union is pouring millions of dollars into agriculture to support women and livestock in Zimbabwe.

Last year, the EU announced it was investing 400 million euros up to 2027 towards women and the livestock value chain.

For Silibaziso and others, it could be time before their numbers match male cattle owners in Zimbabwe.