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Zimbabwe loses 500 000 cattle

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AGRICULTURE minister Anxious Masuka says Zimbabwe’s national herd has declined by at least 500 000 cattle since 2017 due to theileriosis, commonly referred to as January Disease.

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According to experts, cases of theileriosis tend to increase in January due to high rainfall activity, hence the name, January Disease.
“We have lost over half a million cattle from 2017 from this disease, which we can control. Since the launch of the Presidential Blitz Tick Grease Programme, we have seen a 47 percent reduction in cattle deaths,” Masuka said last week.

Agriculture minister Anxious Masuka

The tick-borne disease is characterised by fever, massive swelling of the lymph nodes, cessation of grazing, discharge from the eyes and nose, loss of body condition and death.
The tick grease scheme has helped fill a void left by a number of dip tanks that are not operational.

“We have a livestock growth plan that has three anchors; nutrition, improved genetics and improved animal health. We have rolled out a Presidential Blitz Tick Grease scheme where we have availed one million farmers each with a pack of tick grease so that where the dip tanks are not operational, they can create their own dip tanks at their homesteads and ensure that the disease does not decimate their cattle,” Masuka said.

The Livestock Recovery and Growth Plan is being implemented as part of the broader Agriculture Recovery Plan and envisages a number of outcomes. Under its focus to improve animal health, it has the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) Vaccination Programme and FMD Fencing Programme to minimise livestock movement. The government says it is pushing for the local manufacture of vaccines, affordability and uninterrupted supply of dipping chemicals and dip tank rehabilitation.

“To contain January Disease and other tick-borne diseases, we need to religiously dip for two years,” Agriculture permanent secretary John Basera told an agriculture seminar at the University of Zimbabwe last year.

The livestock growth plan emphasises animal identification and traceability together with improved animal nutrition programmes. This will see the development of pasture green belts and extension of the National Enhanced Agriculture Productivity Scheme (NEAPS) to dairy pasture production, promoting silage production.

NEAPS supports productive farmers who have a good track record of loan repayment and was also referred to as the Command Agriculture Special Programme for Import Substitution, during the 2021/22 season. This is expected to lower feed prices.

The government is also focusing on on-farm feeds formulations with climate smart crop options such as cassava and African peas. The third arm of the livestock plan focuses on improved animal genetics programmes such as artificial insemination and will see private sector and partnerships with centres of excellence while maintaining natural breeding.

Strategic interventions include presidential livestock input schemes, which cover the tick grease application programme, inputs and planting material for livestock survival ration production, inputs for maize and soya bean production for feed and training on-farm feed formulations.

The dairy value chain financing model is being built on a commercial contract farming scheme, harnessing patient pension funds, government guarantees, recovery at off-take level through milk processors such as Nestle and Dairibord.
newsdesk@fingaz.co.zw

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