Cattle sales still banned at ZITF

GOVERNMENT has said there will be no cattle sales at the Bulawayo Agricultural Society's (BAS) pens located within the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) showgrounds.

The move is part of a deliberate move by the Government to mitigate the spread of deadly killer diseases such as foot and mouth disease and theilerioses, commonly known as January disease.

Cattle sales in Bulawayo were suspended in April 2015 after foot-and-mouth disease was detected in three beasts that were being sold at the showgrounds.

Before the suspension of cattle sales in Bulawayo, between 450 and 500 cattle were being sold per week.

Over the years, livestock farmers in Matabeleland have expressed displeasure over the continued closure of   the cattle sale pens saying this seriously affected thousands of commercial and communal farmers who survived on cattle ranching.

Some farmers claimed the continued closure was a well-calculated ploy masterminded by big meat suppliers in the city who wanted to monopolise the buying of cattle from desperate farmers in rural sale pens.

Bulawayo Agricultural Society chairperson Mr Obert Chinamo said the continued closure of the pens has had a negative impact on farmers who have had to endure the agony of selling their beasts at below market prices as compared to the price their animals used to fetch at the show grounds.

He said even as Bulawayo Agricultural Society, they were now failing to run their programmes because of dwindling income revenues.

"These pens were closed way back in 2015, allegedly due to foot and mouth disease. Its high time there were opened because farmers are suffering and as Bulawayo Agricultural Society, we also used to get sustained revenue because there was a certain percent we got from each sale which went a long way in helping us meet our needs like maintaining the place as well as paying salaries to our staff, now we are only relying on rentals, which are not enough," said Mr Chinhamo.

Reached for a comment, the Chief Director responsible for veterinary services under the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Dr Josphat Nyika, said Government was not going to compromise on its policy of safeguarding against the spread of diseases in livestock.

He also poured cold water on claims that the Harare sale pens were actually operational.

"The position is that the Bulawayo, Harare and any other big city pens were never registered as sale pens but they are exhibition places where farmers will showcase their cattle. I also want to highlight that contrary to assertions by some farmers that Harare city had a sale pen, its actually not true, those pens were closed in 2014, a year before the closure of the Bulawayo sale pens and the position hasn't changed and will not change now and in the near future," said Dr Nyika.

He said in Harare the Agricultural Society was advised to find an alternative place about 20km from the city towards Chinhoyi.

"We gave the same option to Bulawayo where we told them to utilise a place along Khami Road where they are some old infrastructure that can be converted into sale pens but they are yet to take it. Government decentralized the sale of cattle where we said the animals must be sold from its place of origin and only be transported for slaughter in the city, after ascertaining that it is disease free," said Dr Nyika.

 The Chief director said there is nowhere they could risk the business of the ZITF, a crucial trade show for the country by opening the sale pens.

"If FMD breaks out it means we may have to close down the place for a full 30 days as we sanitise the whole area, you can imagine what that means so we want to be clear that Government is not going to open those sale pens," said Dr Nyika.