By GLORIA SIWISHA –
The Livestock sector remains one of Zambia’s  most profitable sectors owing to its positive contribution to the economy.
It is estimated that this sector contributes about 35 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The sector’s significance has even been more apparent in the last three years as the Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, has prioritised its growth.
The nation currently,  has a cattle population of over three  million, out of which over 360,000 is found in Eastern Province.
The province also has a goat and pig population of about 250,000 and 150,000 respectively, making it one of the major contributors to the growth of the livestock sector.
If well managed, it is envisaged that the livestock sector in the province will triple its growth over the next five years.
However, the livestock sector continues to face infrastructural challenges hence threatening to reverse the positive strides made so far.

•THE lack of proper infrastructure such as dip tanks, makes it difficult for the veterinary department to control and manage animal
diseases.

The lack of proper infrastructure such as dip tanks for instance, makes it difficult for the veterinary department under the Ministry of Agriculture
and Livestock (MAL) to control and manage animal diseases especially in Eastern Province, an area whose major economic activity is farming.
As a consequence, it is estimated that hundreds of animals die annually in Eastern Province due to diseases such as East Coast Fever.
It must also be noted that most of the dip tanks spread across the province are in a deplorable state much to the frustration of efforts to expand the
sector.
The prevailing situation is also against government’s resolve to promote compulsory dipping of animals in an effort to reduce animal diseases.
The government, through MAL is aware of these challenges and has since released funds amounting to K 6.5 million to assist in curbing theprevalence of the disease.
The funds, which were released under last year’s budget, were meant solely for the rehabilitation of 66 dip tanks spread across the eight districts of Eastern Province and the construction of 11 new ones.
In Chipata district, for example, 11 dip tanks are earmarked for rehabilitation and these include, Chiparamba and Kalichero at Chiparamba farm bloc, Mafuta at Chitandika, Chipangali at Chankhadze and Kwenje.
Others are Mtenguleni, Chikando, Jungujane, Kaphinde and Feni dip tanks based in the Southern and Eastern blocs.
All the said dip tanks have already been handed over to the respective contractors for the commencement of rehabilitation works.
For districts such as Katete and Sinda, rehabilitation of dip tanks commenced in September, 2014 and so far, about 85 per cent of works have been completed.
What therefore remains is the construction of boreholes to supply the dip tanks with water.
According to Eastern Province Provincial Veterinary Officer  Dr. Arthur Mumbolomena, rehabilitation of dip tanks and construction of new infrastructure is meant to enhance cattle production through control of diseases.
“The major purpose of rehabilitating dip tanks is to ensure that our cattle population, particularly production and productivity, is increased through control of diseases.
As you may be aware East Coast Fever is one of the major diseases that causes a lot of mortalities in the livestock sector in Eastern Province and as such the government deemed it fit to rehabilitate these dip tanks so that our farmers can access these facilities and
control the tick population and therefore be able to mitigate the effect of
any tick borne related disease,” Dr. Mumbolomena said.
He said government was hopeful that once the dip tanks were rehabilitated and new structures put up, small-scale farmers would be able to make good use of the facilities for the control of animal diseases.
“We are hopeful that once we have completed these construction works, our farmers should be able to use these facilities because they are built at a  huge cost,” he said.
He retaliated government’s efforts in ensuring rehabilitation and construction of livestock infrastructure are completed on time in order to control livestock diseases.
Dr. Mumbolomena also said the veterinary department in the Province will ensure that all livestock farmers complied with the law on compulsory dipping of animals.
“There is already a statutory instrument which compels all the farmers to dip their cattle.
We will ensure that the law is followed, so that no farmer, who lives in an area where there is a dip tank fails to dip their animals,” he said.
The on-going rehabilitation and construction of new dip tanks has elated small-holder livestock farmers in Eastern Province.
Blantyre Phiri, 40, is a farmer of Kalowa Village in Katete district where the ‘Kampodza’ dip tank is being rehabilitated.
He recalls that disease control was a challenge for many farmers in the absence of a fully functional dip tank.
He narrates that even those that believed could manage animal diseases stopped caring for their animals after realising that they lacked the right information on the whole dipping process.
“Dipping animals was a challenge before the Kampodza dip tank was rehabilitated and a few months ago, we stopped dipping the animals upon realisation that, we had insufficient knowledge on the dipping process.
And because farmers were not dipping the animals properly, government decided to organise a meeting with farmers meant to enlighten us on how we needed
to handle the whole process. In the meeting, it was also agreed with government that each farmer was to be contributing K6 annually for the purchase of the dipping chemicals,” Mr. Phiri said.
Another livestock farmer Abel Phiri, of Chingaipe village could not hide his joy at government’s construction of a dip tank in his area.
“I commend government for this gesture because indeed cattle were dying in numbers before this infrastructure was put up. Am happy today, because I
know that animals will go back to being healthy as was the case in the 1960’s when the whole nation would feed from dairy products,” he said.
His appeal to farmers is that they put a lot of effort in dipping animals so that they are healthy and fetch higher prices when put on the local market.
“For now all farmers are expected to contribute funds amounting to K4, 000 so that when the dip tank become fully operational, funds are readily
available to buy chemicals and provide general maintenance to the infrastructure,” he said.
In terms of security of the infrastructure, Mr. Phiri who is also a headman at Chingaipe village explained that a programme was already in place to hire a security guard, who was to be taking care of it.
“The dip tank committee has already recommended the hiring of a security guard to protect this infrastructure as we realise that, it’s likely to be vulnerable to vandalism, if not protected,’ he said.
Dip tanks play a critical role in guaranteeing good health of animals and therefore, it is important that, the infrastructure is made available to
farmers in all the districts of Eastern Province.
The cattle population in Eastern Province is already in excess of 360,000, making it the third largest cattle producer after Southern and Western Provinces.
The livestock sector in the province is therefore, undoubtedly performing well going by the statistics.
What remains then, is for livestock farmers to also do their part by consistently dipping their animals once the facilities are fully operational.
Vandalism of the dipping infrastructure should also be discouraged as it negates development.-NAIS