The Sunday News
Farming issues, Mhlupheki Dube
LAST week we read a sad story from both the official media and social media platforms about a farmer in Matabeleland South province who had his six animals killed and burnt by the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) for violating animal movement restrictions. The farmer had moved his six animals from Figtree area which is under quarantine due to Foot and mouth (FMD) outbreak.
As expected there were divergent views regarding this action taken by DVS, with some farmers expressing dismay at the loss inflicted to the farmer. Their feeling being that other forms of punishment could have been meted to the farmer without making him lose his investment.
In fact, one old man was quoted as saying he had never seen such an action being taken since he was born.
On the other side some farmers felt that it was the most appropriate action to take and it was provided for in the Animal Health Act which governs operations of DVS.
They argued that the farmer concerned wilfully disobeyed the law regarding the movement of his animals, more so fully aware that the area from which the animals were coming from was under quarantine.
One thing for sure is that views on this matter will never converge on agreed positions because there are emotions involved.
Talking about emotions we need to realise as livestock farmers and Government arms responsible for managing livestock that FMD is a very emotional subject to most farmers in Matabeleland because it led to the closure of a premier livestock auction centre, the ZITF showgrounds and livestock farmers have been counting their losses since.
What makes it worse is that other places which were also at one moment or another closed due to FMD have long been opened and are operational, Mt Hampden CC sale points in Harare is an example of one such point.
The Bulawayo ZITF showgrounds has remained closed to date. So the issue of FMD is emotional at that level because there is a general feeling among livestock farmers in Matabeleland region that FMD has been weaponised against them, crippling their operations.
Having said this, it is important to point out a few facts, that the concerned farmer should have considered before putting himself in a position of losing his six animals and also put other areas at risk of FMD outbreak and quarantine.
Fact number one is that one needs an animal movement permit to move his or her animal from one point to another.
That movement permit is issued by DVS. It is illegal to move animals without that permit. An illegal action has consequences and in this case destroying the animals was the consequence. Another fact is that FMD is a disease of economic importance not just to Matabeleland region but to the whole world, hence banning of beef exports from countries which are struggling with controlling FMD. At local level the outbreak of the disease results in quarantining of the affected area for a certain period until the disease is brought under control.
When the area is under quarantine, no animal movement is allowed which means even livestock trade is affected. You may be allowed to take animals directly for slaughter after a certain period. Now, not everyone sells slaughter stock, some farmers want to sell breeding stock, in fact breeding stock has better money than slaughter stock. Your heifers will fetch much better than your steers especially during times like January to March.
So declaration of a quarantine means that farmer cannot sell his or her heifers until the quarantine is lifted and that can be more than 18 months later.
Now imagine you are a livestock farmer in Gwanda where those animals were taken by the disobedient farmer and there is an FMD outbreak because of that little action of defiance, and you are now under quarantine and you cannot sell your animals for the next 18 plus months.
You have kids at universities and schools that need fees paid but you have now been incapacitated because of the action of one irresponsible farmer.
The point is as livestock farmers let us all act responsibly especially when FMD is concerned so that we are not affected more than we are already being affected by the FMD in the region. In fact, ZITF showgrounds was closed because of such reckless and inconsiderate livestock farmers, who would take animals that have been cleared for direct slaughter at abattoirs in Bulawayo and sell them at the show grounds to people buying for breeding.
The result was that FMD was now being propagated in areas especially around Bulawayo as a direct result of the existence of the ZITF show grounds auctions, hence the closure. Why it has remained closed is open to individual interpretation but the reasons for closure in the first place are very clear.
Uyabonga umntaka
MaKhumalo. Mhlupheki Dube is a Livestock specialist and farmer. He writes in his own capacity. Feedback [email protected]/cell 0772851275
