MP moves in to avert cattle deaths

Zvamaida Murwira recently in Hwedza
newly-elected Hwedza South Member of Parliament Cde Tinoda Machakaire has unveiled a massive project to revive dip tanks to combat tick-borne diseases to end cattle deaths in the district. Thousands of cattle have been lost in Hwedza District and other parts of Mashonaland East Province, especially among communal farmers, at a time when the Government is working towards rebuilding the national herd and restocking.

The deaths have been as a result of tick-borne disease owing to prolonged periods of non-dipping due to the erratic supply of dipping chemicals.

In an interview in Hwedza at the weekend, Cde Machakaire — who won the right to represent the constituency on a Zanu-PF ticket in the just-ended harmonised election — said he had mobilised resources to revive dip tanks that had not been functional.

He said the programme, which he started during his campaign, will be enhanced and has since started paying off as the number of deaths have declined.

“Several cattle have died in Hwedza and nearby areas like Buhera. Farmers lost most of their cattle and others were selling them for a song. This has been a painful experience. One of the reason we noted as contributing to those deaths was the absence of dip tanks. We have come up with a deliberate plan to revive dip tanks. The areas we will be targeting include St Anne’s Goto, Makanda, St Barnabas, Mukamba and Chikurumadzivo among several areas,” said Cde Machakaire.

“As their leader, I have watched with a lot of pain communal farmers losing their cattle, which in most cases would be their only valuable resource, their store of value owing to tick borne diseases. Others have sold them just to salvage some value out of it. It has been a bad experience and I have mobilised resources to mitigate that problem.” The unavailability of foreign currency has been cited as the reason for failing to procure dipping chemicals.

Government has in the past said some farmers have not been paying for dipping services that are carried out by the Veterinary department on a partial cost recovery basis.