Forex crunch paralyses cattle dipping operations

By Lance Guma
23 January 2006

An acute foreign currency shortage is said to be seriously affecting the dipping of cattle in most rural areas in Zimbabwe. A visit to the Masvosva area of Rusape by our correspondent Lionel Saungweme has revealed that cattle have not been dipped for 3 months. Particularly worrying is that during the rainy season cattle should be dipped weekly, as the tall grass means ticks are most prevalent at that time.

The headman in the area was quick to deny accusations coming from the villagers that government was neglecting the welfare of their cattle. He said it was the fault of the villagers for not paying up their subscriptions, which in turn are used to finance the cattle dipping. The villagers responded by taking out their payment books to show that they were indeed fully paid up.
Some people who are slightly well off or have relatives abroad are importing their own chemicals and spraying their cattle using water guns
Further investigations by our correspondent show that locally based companies involved in making these chemicals are struggling with foreign currency shortages and cannot get all the inputs needed for production.

It’s obviously much cheaper to dip cattle than suffer the economic disaster of allowing them to die of preventable diseases, but with no forex and no inputs people are put in an impossible situation. Experts predict that due to the disastrous land reform program alone it will take a hundred years for the beef herd to return to the level it was once at. This new crisis just adds to an already critical situation.