Tanzania is facing a shortage of 8,994 plunge dips for cattle, exposing the animals to pests and disease infections, a senior official said on Wednesday.
The Minister for Livestock and Fisheries, Mashimba Ndaki, told a conference of livestock stakeholders in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam that there are currently 2,526 plunge dips across the country which are not enough to cater for the country’s 25 million cattle.
Ndaki said about 72 percent of livestock deaths in the country are caused by pests and diseases that can be controlled by dipping them.
The minister said poor livestock dipping services had contributed greatly to increased animal diseases, adding that dipping is the most effective way of controlling ticks on animals.
Ndaki urged the livestock stakeholders to support the government in the construction and rehabilitation of plunge dips in the country to save the livestock from being attacked by pests and diseases. Enditem
