The Western Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WCCI) has urged the region’s cattle ranchers to pursue novel CBPP eradication strategies.
While immunization has shown to be helpful in managing CBPP, it does not completely eradicate the disease, according to a statement sent to ZNBC News in Livingstone by WCCI Vice Secretary SAMUEL LITEBELE.
According to Mr. LITEBELE, since the CBPP outbreak in 1997, the cattle business has suffered economically, and the population of cattle has decreased from one million in 1990 to 480,000 in 2023.
According to him, the province needs to embrace harsh actions that could end CBPP in the province.
According to Mr. LITEBELE, the test-slaughter and vaccination exercise is a tried-and-true strategy that has been successful in the regions of Kazungula and Chibombo-Chasamba.
However, he asserts that a well-planned and focused stakeholder involvement as well as the restoration of the cordon line at the Zambia-Angola border are necessary for the test, slaughter, and vaccination operation to be successful.
He claims that the province has to increase staffing levels throughout districts and veterinary camps, as well as increase the government’s suggested remuneration from twenty to fifty percent.
Other efforts include restricting the migration of buffalo, especially in parks that border districts, such as Kaoma and Mulobezi districts’ Sioma-Ngwezi and Liuwa Plain National Parks.
According to Mr. LITEBELE, the province’s livestock farmers have suffered as a result of the ban on cattle transportation, which is why the CBPP must be swiftly eliminated.
