Story by Tafara Chikumira
GOVERNMENT has surpassed its target of vaccinating one million cattle against anthrax while measures have been put in place to deal with the January disease menace ahead of the summer cropping season.
The milestone comes as part of efforts under the Livestock Growth Plan to safeguard the national herd and address challenges that have contributed to livestock losses over the years.
The Veterinary Services Department says it has managed to reach out to all the anthrax hotspots to deal with the menace well in advance.
“We are happy that we had a vaccination target of one million cattle. What this means is that we are likely going to contain this problem. We have a weather forecast pointing to an El Niño weather pattern, and anthrax tends to be a problem under such patterns, so we have managed to deal with the problem on time,” Director, Veterinary Field Services, Department of Veterinary Services, Dr Jairus Machakwa said.
On the January Disease menace, the government says they have developed some homegrown solutions to complement what has been traditionally used to contain the pandemic.
“January disease is one area we have declared war on. We are developing some pesticides that are being developed in the lab. We are also constructing dip tanks across the country,’’ Dr Jairus Machakwa noted.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) says farmers are grateful for any interventions meant to protect their heritage.
“Livestock means a lot to farmers. Any move meant to protect their wealth is appreciated. We are also appealing to development partners to come up with more intervention measures to protect livestock in this country,” ZFU’s Executive Director, Mr Paul Zakaria said.
The Second Republic is making deliberate efforts to promote the Livestock Growth Plan with a view to feed into the agriculture transformation efforts.
