Cattle restocking exercise welcome

Monitor Editor | Monday June 23, 2014 10:44

The restocking of the cattle in May 2013 came at the wrong time according to the affected farmers in the region who feel that the timing of the exercise during a severe drought that would wipe away their newly introduced cattle. They also felt that government should have waited for the vegetation to recover so that the cattle could find a healthy environment that would sustain livestock farming.

While we would naturally ululate with the farmers who hope to have their livestock replaced, there is no denying that the hundreds of cattle that will come at the tax payer’s cost. It could be tens of millions of Pula that could have been easily avoided with the right consultation with the stakeholders, in this case, the farmers.

Nevertheless, the decision to implement restocking after so many sustained calls by the farmers would go a long way towards restoring confidence in the government by the people if the affected areas.

The replacement of cattle also comes with conditions such as the ability by the farmer to present evidence of death in the form of the bolus, ear tags of hides from the dead animals. We can only hope that the farmers will have something to show so that they can claim their cattle.

However, it would also not be surprising to find that many farmers had long thrown away the evidence of death after giving up on any hope that government would replace their dead cattle.

How could they have known that after first refusing to replace the cattle, a year later the same government would back track on its stubborn stance and decide to  re-stock the farmers? It is indeed a conundrum. Alternative means of ascertaining the death of the cattle with the view to replace them will have to be devised, lest government in its quest to please angry farmers, finds itself in the eye of yet another storm of frustrated farmers.