BULAWAYO - Livestock buyers in Matabeleland South have been accused of deliberately starting veld fires to destroy grazing pastures, in a bid to force villagers to sell their animals at give away prices.The Education and Publicity Manager of the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), Steady Kangata, said investigations carried out by the agency in the province had clearly revealed that cattle dealers were responsible for most of the veld fires in the province.
“Last year alone the province recorded a total number of 873 incidences of fire veld fire outbreaks which destroyed a total of 197, 604.38 hectares of pasture land. All this was caused by cattle buyers who wanted to cause a depression in the cattle market and force villagers to sell their animals as a result of the subsequent shortage of pasture following the deliberate destruction of the grazing land,” Kangata told The Zimbabwean this week
Kangata said this strategy by cattle dealers was posing a lot of challenges to his organization.
“We are working with a number of stakeholders to address this problem because not only is it a threat to our environment but to our national herd as well,” said Kangata.
Post published in: Opinions