The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporter
CASES of the January disease (theileriosis) have declined by more than 60 percent over the past three years, an indication of the effectiveness of Government’s ongoing campaign to control the tick-borne disease.
According to the first quarter assessment report released by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development recently, Government has recorded a 61,8 decline in January disease-related deaths compared to the same period in 2020.
Veterinary Services Department (VSD) chief director Dr Josphat Nyika told The Sunday Mail that the improvement became noticeable last year as the impact of various programmes began to kick in.
“The country lost 3 583 cattle to January disease in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 9 382 cattle lost during the same period in 2020, which is our recent worst year.
“It is in 2022 that notable improvement started to be felt after operationalising various programmes.
“We lost 4 297 cattle during the same period,” he said.
Dipping of cattle, Dr Nyika said, remains the most effective way to control tick-borne diseases.
“Weekly dipping of cattle during the rainy season when the tick challenge is at its peak and once every two weeks in winter when tick activity is low is the gold standard.
“In January disease-outbreak areas, cattle are dipped three times in two weeks following the 5-5-4-day dipping interval to break the cycle of disease transmission; and even in the winter period, theileriosis hotspots continue on weekly dipping to prevent build-up of brown-ear tick larval and nymphal stages responsible for winter outbreaks,” he added.
Government has also scaled up local production of the much-needed vaccines.
“The January disease vaccine codenamed the BOLVAC was produced late 2022 and is currently undergoing field trials in Makoni district.
“The vaccine is administered to cattle during winter to protect them during the rainy season. Production is being ramped up as the roll-out is expected in the dry season. To date, 200 000 doses have been produced at the Central Veterinary Laboratory by local researchers.”
Since the inception of the Presidential Blitz Tick Grease Scheme in the 2020/2021 season, over two million kilogrammes of tick grease have been distributed to communal farmers, with each household receiving a minimum of 1 kilogramme and those in theileriosis hotspots getting an extra kilogramme.
This year, the target is to distribute 1,5 million kg of tick grease.
Speaking on the sidelines of a prize-giving ceremony in Harare recently, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Permanent Secretary Dr John Basera said “close to five million cattle succumbed to tick-borne diseases and this prompted Government to roll out different programmes”.
The January disease has been threatening to derail efforts to achieve a national herd of eight million cattle by 2025.
Currently, the national herd stands at 5,6 million cattle.
