The livestock keepers are incurring losses amounting to Sh6 billions because of shortage of dips and other veterinary services, according to Mr Jackson Muro, the director of Cedesota, a non-governmental organisation with an interest in the welfare of livetock keepers.
Speaking at a capacity building workshop for cattle herders, the director said shorage of dips was rampant in many areas in Manyara and the northern zone regions.
He said even where the facilities were present, they were not utilised due to shortage of the chemicals or were in dilapitated form.
Mr Muro added that a survey carried out in 2008 through the support of a Netherlands NGO called SNV indicated that livesock keepers were incurring huge losses at a time amounting to between Sh300,000 and Sh 400,000 per head.
According to the last livestock cencus, Simanjiro District has 326,524 head of cattle, 222,694 goats and sheep and 26 cattle dips. Out of the se, only 10 were in good working condition.
However, the chairman of the district council, Mr Peter Tendee, said shortage of water in the semi-arid district has aggravated the situation.
Source: The Citizen, reported by Joseph Lyimo
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