Paddy Zhanda, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture responsible for livestock, told delegates at a Chilonga cattle fattening project sponsored by Tongaat Hulett in Chiredzi last week that a working committee had been formed with the Ministry of Local Government to tackle the issue.
Zhanda said small-scale cattle producers were the hardest hit and government had to come up with systems that benefit them. He said the auction system was being considered as one way of bringing value to cattle farmers by giving them more bargaining power than the current system where a single cattle buyer dictates the price to the farmer.
He also said the education system should be geared to producing farmers. “If our economy is agro-based then children should be equipped with agricultural skills at even primary level,” he said.
On the foot and mouth outbreak, he said: “I have engaged Billy Rautenbach and owners of the Malilangwe conservancy and advised them that they should repair fences around their sanctuaries. We want to solve this problem amicably because government is spending a lot of money on vaccinating cattle but out our investigations have revealed that just one individual was reckless resulting in the outbreak of this disease.”
Post published in: Business