Over 2m cattle vaccinated

Zimbabwe Farmers Union executive director Mr Paul Zakariya has said.
He said the programme, which is meant for farmers affiliated to ZFU, was ongoing.

The objective is to vaccinate all cattle in the country as part of efforts to preserve the national herd.
“Vaccinations must be done time and again to preserve the national herd. We want to save cattle from diseases like anthrax, blackleg, heartwater and botulism to name just a few.

“Our biggest challenges at the moment are resources. We have since appealed to the private sector and other organisations to come in either with funding or chemicals to see the programme through,” said Mr Zakariya.
He added that ZFU had struck a deal with a local company, Graniteside Chemicals in which farmers affiliated to the union could buy veterinary chemicals at discounted prices.

“The farmers only need to organise themselves into groups so that they can access the chemicals using the facility.
“The farmers only need to have paid up ZFU membership cards to use the facility,” Mr Zakariya added.

Mr Zakariya said ZFU was running the programme with the Veterinary Services Department.
Veterinary personnel are the ones doing the vaccinations while the ZFU sources the chemicals and organise the farmers.

“ZFU has other veterinary chemicals waiting to address particular diseases once the Veterinary Department identifies an outbreak.
“We are also looking for more players in the private sector or any willing independent organisations to partner us in the implementation of the programme.

“We cannot leave the burden to the Government alone at a time like this when there are serious liquidity challenges,” said Mr Zakariya.
As part of the programme, the farmers can even buy dipping chemicals before inviting veterinary officers to come and conduct the dipping.
Dipping cattle is among farming activities that had been adversely affected by economic hardships the country went through and is only beginning to be revived.