The Sunday News
THERE is no doubt or argument that the livestock sector is an integral part of the country’s agriculture industry. It is predominantly more important in the southern parts of the country where in some households and areas, it’s used as a measure of wealth. It is some sort of a fall back pension for almost every family especially in Matabeleland region where most of the areas do not receive enough rainfall to sustain crop production.
The situation is the same in most parts of Midlands and Masvingo provinces.
It is against that background that livestock, especially cattle, is treated with outmost care and importance in these areas.
Anything that threatens this source of livelihood for the communities brings sleepless nights and misery to the people.
However, over the past few months cattle in most of these areas have been affected by the contagious Foot and Mouth Disease.
In fact, most areas in these provinces have been declared red zones and the disease is spreading to new areas.
The results of the spread of the diseases are now all evident for the country to see and for the farmers to feel the pinch.
Most cattle movements have been banned while some abattoirs and auction sales have been closed.
For farmers this is a huge blow. It means they cannot move cattle from their areas to any other including the markets.
More so it means that most of them cannot sell their cattle which is their source of livelihood.
Very soon schools will open and most of the farmers were looking forward to selling some of their beasts to pay school fees.
Last year, there was little rainfall and in some areas farmers would need to move their beasts to other areas to seek water and pasture but unfortunately because of the ban they cannot.
It means they will be forced to watch their animals die or lose weight up until they die or at least until the heavens open up.
This also exposes the farmers to unscrupulous buyers who would offer low prices for cattle because they know that the poor farmers would be at a disadvantage.
As for the auction floors and abattoirs, definitely their business cannot survive when their biggest input is not readily available.
Some auction floors and cattle sales have been closed for months resulting in loss of business amounting to millions.
This is also true for some abattoirs where slaughtering has been stopped.
Such a scenario has opened avenues for corruption where some of the beasts are now moved at night without or with clearance letters which are being obtained fraudulently.
This is complicating the whole process of controlling FMD as these movements are resulting in new cases emerging.
However, amid all this confusion, it is the livestock sector which is suffering.
Farmers are left wondering whether authorities are doing enough to control the spread of FMD.
More worrying is the overtone coming from Government with senior officials portraying a picture of calmness while on the ground the story is different.
The official Government line is that FMD is under control after a mere $1,5 million was disbursed to control the disease.
However, experts who are on the ground are painting a different picture.
Those experts would tell you that the country requires at least $20 million to effectively vaccinate cattle to control the disease.
If Government has availed just $1,5 million it clearly shows that there is still a huge gap in terms of funding needed and when more than $18,5 million is still required to buy the necessary vaccines, then this can never be a situation under control.
Just to show that the situation is not under control, the same experts who are on the ground and who everyday come face to face with the affected farmers and animals are saying new cases are being reported.
Latest information from the Veterinary department indicates that there were new reported cases in Gwanda and Beitbridge last week.
In the Midlands the vet office suspects that all the eight districts are now infected with FMD.
These are worrying indications and can never be a barometer of a situation under control.
We all know that the Government does not have enough money to effectively deal with the disease as indicated by the amount of money that has been availed so far against what is effectively needed.
However, the good thing about such problems is that there are a lot of international organisations that are keen to help in areas concerning livestock.
These organisations can only unstring their purses based on correct information from the right officials which in this case is the Government.
How then do we expect to get help from such organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation among others when we tell them that everything is under control?
They will listen to us and buy the line that everything is under control when this is not the case.
We need to come out openly as a country and tell the truth on what is happening on the ground.
Farmers are complaining that FMD is threatening to kill their business and that can never be regarded as business as usual.
Experts report that there are new cases being reported and new areas are being quarantined but we still think that must be treated as something under control.
According to statistics released by Minister of Finance Patrick Chinamasa in his fiscal policy review last month, the country’s herd has improved to 5,48 million, up from 5,37 million during the past season.
He attributed the growth to increased calving which went up by 49 percent the 2013/14 season to 51 percent 2014/15.
This showed that the farmers were doing all what they could to ensure that the country’s herd grows.
This growth, coupled with efforts to revive companies such as Cold Storage Company so that we can resume exports as we used to do in the 1980s can never be successful as long as FMD is being reported within our farms.
We know that countries that import beef are so particular especially when it comes to issues like FMD and would want to know the history of the source of the beef.
That is why instead of hiding the truth, we need to come out openly and show that we are serious in trying to deal with FMD.
We need to control its spread because from the look of things many more areas might soon be affected but above all we need to provide the right information so that even our farmers can take the right steps in preventing its spread.
In the end a combined effort will bring the required results.
