Government has revealed that it is mobilising funding for stockfeed to be distributed to rural farmers as the drought continues to ravage the national herd with livestock struggling to find pastures and water sources.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development minister Anxious Masuka last week told the National Assembly that government was mobilising supplementary feed for the country’s 1 620 wards severely affected by the drought.
He said government had also entered into contracts with supplementary feed distributors in the country.
“We are mobilising supplementary feed for 1 620 wards. We have signed contracts with companies that supply silage and other supplementary feeds for distribution to these drought-stricken wards,” he said.
Masuka said ward mitigation centres would also be used to spray the livestock to fight the spread of diseases.
“We also put a spray race to enable the cattle in that particular area to be able to be sprayed for diseases. We have also appointed focal persons for all these wards and created a WhatsApp group for communication so that we do not lose cattle. The essence of this ward drought mitigation centre is that it is a relief centre for the particular ward,” Masuka said.
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The government, he said, had also erected fencing in areas that are near farms to control the spread of diseases between wild animals and livestock.
He said government would prioritise the drilling of boreholes to avail water to rural communities, adding that they would prioritise natural regions 4 and 5.
Masuka said government had banned all the household-based sales saying sales would be conducted at drought mitigation centres.