THE Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) has assured farmers that there is enough tick dipping chemicals to last Zimbabwe for the next six months with more stocks expected soon.
This comes as the government is now helping chemical manufacturing companies to access foreign currency on the auction floor for easy procurement of raw materials.
DVS director Josephat Nyika told the Daily News yesterday that they now have chemicals to last them until June 2022.
“Every year we do tenders for dipping chemical suppliers after being awarded contracts they could not access to foreign currency to import raw materials for chemical production,” Nyika said.
“This led to the reduction of the country’s dipping chemicals. Now the government is now importing raw materials on their behalf so we now have a strong public private partnership going on.
“The forex auction system has improved the access of foreign currency chemical manufactures. They are getting an allocation through the auction which has fast-tracked production, this year already we have dip chemicals that will last up to June next year.”
Nyika said Zimbabwe’s livestock mortality has been brought down after the introduction of the Presidential Tick Blitz grease programme.
“We had a 42 percent reduction of disease and death caused by January disease because of the Presidential Blitz Tick grease programme, dip tank rehabilitation programme as well as mobilisation of the community for intense dipping exercises. Tick grease helped to curb the January disease programme,” said Nyika.
Under the programme, at least 800 000 households across the country received tick grease.
During the 2019/20 agricultural season, there were 46 715 tick borne disease cases and 33 514 deaths.
Then during the 2020/21 period, 25 036 cases were recorded and 12 503 deaths indicating a major decrease of death by 62.7 percent.
Through the Livestock Growth Plan which will ensure there is climate proofed livestock production and reduction in disease induced mortality, the government hopes to create a sector worth US$1.9 billion by 2025.
The programme includes intense cattle dipping and tick grease applied in between dipping seasons. Farmers have also been trained on the correct application of the grease.
by Melisa Chatikobo