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Livingstone Marufu
GOVERNMENT will not allow the wanton slaughter of donkeys for commercial purposes, a Cabinet minister has said. Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made said the value of donkeys outweighed the love for meat or hides.
His statements follow the construction of a US$150 000 state-of-the-art donkey abattoir in Bulawayo.
Conservationists are lobbying against opening of the abbatoir; and in July Botswana became the sixth African country to impose restrictions on donkey exports following Niger, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and The Gambia.
Dr Made said: “Donkeys are a major source of draught power in the agriculture sector and decapitating them will be a major blow for the smallholder farmer and agriculture sector.
“Zimbabwe won’t allow draught power to be undermined. If the proposed slaughterhouse is already buying donkeys, it will be a major blow the rural population which survives on donkeys for transport and draught power; we can’t allow that.
“Government will not stand by to allow that to happen as donkeys’ economic, social and political importance far outweigh the interest of meat and skins.”
Dr Made said slaughtering 2 100 donkeys monthly, as the abattoir has the capacity to, will have a negative impact on an estimated donkey population of 300 000.
Online Reporter