Double trouble: Matsiloje farmers battered by FMD, El Nino :: Mmegi Online

While Matsiloje and other villages in its periphery are still smarting from the effects of the closure of a mine within their environs a few years back, the twin tragedies of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and El Niño are lingering on the horizon. Staff Writer LEBOGANG MOSIKARE reports

FRANCISTOWN: Pastoral farming in the Zone 6B area in the North East District (NED) is no longer the vocation that for yonks sustained many rural households. It now seems to be a curse that makes farmers wonder what pain it inflicts on their lives. Recently, farmers in the Zone 6B area woke up to bad news from the Ministry of Agriculture Development and Food Security (MADFS) that a herd of about 200 cattle from Zimbabwe, an FMD hotbed, had crossed the border into Matsiloje, Botswana.

Pastoral farmers in Botswana especially Matsiloje and surrounding villages need no explanation of what the cattle emigration from Zimbabwe into Botswana mean to their lives.

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