The Sunday News
THE Midlands cattle farming industry has suffered a huge setback after it was barred from exhibiting at the 90th edition of the Midlands Show after Gweru District was put under quarantine as a result of the foot and mouth disease outbreak that hit the provincial capital and other surrounding districts in the past few months.
Midlands Show Society chairman Mr Augustine Mpakurirwa said the cattle farmers would not be exhibiting this year due to the outbreak of the foot and mouth disease and this had adversely affected the industry.
The cattle exhibition which had become an integral part of the Midlands Show would, however, be replaced by rabbit farmers who will be exhibiting for the first time.
“This year we will not be exhibiting cattle because of the foot and mouth disease. We were advised that cattle in the province are not being moved because of the disease. However, we will be exhibiting rabbits for the first time,” he said.
Midlands Veterinary Services provincial manager Dr Thomas Sibanda said Gweru was still under quarantine and the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development was waiting for “solid immunity” before the cattle could be moved in and outside the district.
“We have vaccinated cattle that were in the affected areas and treated those that had been attacked by the disease. The situation has improved significantly but animals in Gweru District are still quarantined. The situation is under control,” he said.
Some of the areas that have been affected by foot and mouth in Midlands this year include Gweru, Chireya, Gokwe South near Chirisa Game Park and Mberengwa District, which he said they were failing to contain as of May this year due to drug shortages.
In April, the Department of Veterinary Services suspended cattle trade in parts of the province due to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease.
The suspension followed outbreaks of the disease in Zvishavane, Gweru and Mvuma.
Zimbabwe has experienced regular outbreaks of the disease in recent times in cattle rich regions of Matabeleland and Midlands, which have adversely affected the industry as the country is an exporter of meat.
Several cattle sales stopped while some abattoirs have been shut down in a bid to stem a possible nationwide outbreak of the devastating disease.
Authorities have also banned domestic animal movements as efforts to contain the disease intensify.
At the turn of the new millennium, Zimbabwe’s exports of beef to the European Union were stopped after an outbreak of foot and mouth hit most parts of the country.
The outbreak at the time spread to neighbouring Botswana, a major producer of beef for both the regional and international markets.
Foot and mouth disease is a viral infection which affects livestock.
In cattle, the affected livestock may develop sores, blisters on the feet, in the mouth and on the tongue.
Other signs may include fever, shivering, lameness and affected cows produce less milk.
Meanwhile, smallholder farmers in Midlands have been encouraged to venture into fish farming particularly those in semi to non-arable regions.
Aquaculture Zimbabwe field officer Mr John Shumba said farmers in Mwenezi, Chiredzi and other districts in region five where crop cultivation was not suitable had successfully ventured into fish farming.
“There is a certain breed of bream fish that originated from the Nile River and is resistant to many diseases and adaptive to harsh conditions. These are the type of fish that we encourage those in areas that are in Region Five to keep. In Midlands there are a few people that are into fish farming. We successfully introduced fish farming in Masvingo province in regions that were not suitable for crop cultivation,” he said.
