The Sunday News
Mhlupheki Dube
THE case of a Masvingo farmer who is alleged to have illegally moved 20 heifers from Nuanetsi Ranch in Mwenezi, a foot and mouth zone to his farm in a clean area, has generated serious debate among citizens, especially livestock farmers.
A barrage of missiles have been fired both in attack and in defence of the farmer. I, therefore, wish to add my opinion to this very sensitive and emotive issue. I am both a livestock farmer and livestock practitioner and I easily identify with the pain caused by such reckless behaviour by the farmer and the authorities concerned with livestock movements. While this may seem like an isolated incident, it is probably far from that.
This particular farmer has had the misfortune of his illegal movement resulting in the spread of an infection while a lot others pass silently. It is important to note that this incident comes right on the heels of a similar case in Nkayi District where a mischievous farmer deliberately and illegally moved 10 heifers from Gokwe District into the northern part of Nkayi District.
His reckless mischief resulted in the transmission of foot and mouth disease from Gokwe to Nkayi. Following the disease outbreak in northern Nkayi, the farmer was arrested, tried and fined $100 for illegally moving animals. Needless to say the fine is a very painful joke to both Government and farmers who have to bear the consequences of the presence of the disease in the district.
The Nkayi case clearly revealed that despite the serious nature of such diseases as foot and mouth (FMD), provisions of the law have not been adjusted to suit the gravity of the matter. It is very clear in the Masvingo case that destroying the farmer’s animals will inflict substantial pain to his pocket and send a loud message to other people who haboured similar thoughts.
However, it is also important to note that there are other players in the livestock industry who can be movers of the FMD spread but may not have their own herds to be destroyed. These are the small town buyers usually referred to as middlemen.
In some instances these also engage in illegal movement of animals, in fact the Nkayi guy I am informed is a livestock trader.
My point is the law has to be revisited and updated to cover all possible angles in so far as the livestock trade and movement is concerned, and appropriate punitive fines and sentences defined.
This will prevent the Nkayi scenario where a reckless action by the individual caused an outbreak, closure of livestock trading and complete prohibition of cattle movements.
By that simple act of mischief the Government was now faced with the need to vaccinate about 11 dip tanks. Each dip tank has an average livestock census of about 1 500 animals which means 16 500 had to be vaccinated. That number multiplied by about $5 which is the cost of vaccinating one animal, a colossal $82 500 had to be mobilised in order to contain the disease and prevent its spread to other parts of the district and neighbouring areas.
So because of that irresponsible act from one individual you now have a resource-constrained Government being asked to dig deeper into its shallow pockets and source the vaccine as well as financing the actual logistics of vaccinating, on the other hand you have farmers who are literally detained because they are no longer allowed to sell their animals yet they need to pay school fees, buy food stuffs and cover medical expenses.
It is against this background of painfull economic situations that are faced by farmers in FMD zones that I call for a thorough investigation into the Masvingo case and reward whoever is involved in this illicit situation with appropriate punishment. If there is an envelope that changed hands for these animals to be moved let the beneficiaries of the envelope face the music as well.
FMD is a nuisance disease of economic consequence especially to people whose livelihoods is hinged on livestock production. Therefore a deliberate spread of infection should attract the sternest possible punishment. I cannot imagine being held hostage and I can’t sell my animals because of a greedy behaviour by another farmer. Uyabonga umntakaMaKhumalo.
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