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Cattle owners need education for keeping smaller herds
2006-01-20 08:24:29
By Correspondent Maria Masebo
Tanzania is teeming with cattle. Considering its livestock population, Tanzania is the third in Africa after the Sudan and Ethiopia. Yet such a big number of cattle contribute only 6.1 per cent to the national coffers.
Besides this small contribution to the economy, cattle are chief agents of soil degradation and conflicts between livestock keepers and farmers.
We do not export as much meat as we should because our cattle are bags of bones, especially in the dry season.
During this time, cattle herders are also bags of bones.
In economic terms, cattle keeping is ridiculous, bordering on dim-witted economic activity. Our President, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete says that the present cattle keeping is outdated, making the whole country one vast grazing ground.
In many parts of Tanzania livestock keeping is a traditional status symbol.
The greater the number of cattle one has the higher his status in the society.
In a modern world, this is sheer claptrap not only because of the adverse effect cattle have on the environment but also on peace between Tanzanians as well as on their other economic activities.
For example, cattle from northern Tanzania have turned the Usangu Plains in Southern Highlands into a dry savannah land. Some 20 years ago, the Usangu Plans were one vast source of water for Ruaha River that pours its waters into Rufiji River.
Soon after independence, the government built hydroelectric stations on Rufiji-Ruaha rivers to produce power for factories and lighting in Tanzania. Mtera and Kidatu dams on these rivers are almost dry now, adversely affecting the supply of hydroelectricity.
Measures being taken by Government authorities to solve this problem do not seem to be adequate. A recent directive of the acting Dodoma Regional Commissioner, Halima Kasungu, is one case in point.
She has directed livestock keepers to move their cattle from areas around Mtera Dam or face legal action. These are two options that do not make sense to livestock keepers involved.
For example, where can they send their cattle if they are denied the opportunity of giving their livestock water from the dam?
And would charging livestock keepers with overstocking actually solve the problem of inadequate production of hydroelectricity? We do not think so!
We recommend that the Ministry in charge of livestock development should inculcate into livestock keepers the awareness that keeping large numbers of cattle is counter productive.
The British colonialists actually taxed an excessive number of cattle. This is not an option we can use for most livestock keepers can only resent it.
The most appropriate option is modern livestock keeping.
Officials concerned, at the grass roots level, should demonstrate to livestock keepers the advantage of modern livestock keeping with much small numbers of cattle.
At the same time, the question of the status symbol, as far as large herds of cattle are concerned, should be made clear to livestock keepers.
They should be informed that fewer quality dairy cattle, for example, can benefit them more than 500 or 1,000 head of skinny cattle that give hardly two or three pints of milk.
They should be informed that quality cattle, kept under zero-grazing conditions, could make livestock keepers richer than they are today because the quality of meat would improve so much that they would be able to export it and so make more money than they are doing now.
It is, therefore, our fervent hope that the ministries in charge of livestock keeping, marketing, environment and community development will make joint efforts to rid Tanzania of the economic catastrophe brought about by vast numbers of cattle roaming about our beloved country.
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