Livestock animals destroy crop fields in Kazungula

Domestic animals in Mambova area in Kazungula district have destroyed people’s gardens and maize fields.

A group of Mambova residents stormed ZANIS offices today demanding for government’s intervention over the matter.

Representative of the resients Chileya Mwenya explained that owners of pigs and goats in Mambova have a tendency of leaving their animals carelessly as they move about anyhow in the process destroying people’s vegetable gardens and maize fields.

Mr Mwenya disclosed that government officers from the departments of Veterinary and Agriculture have had several meetings with the community in the area last year to encourage owners to take care of their animals but to no avail.

“Other than fishing, villagers’ source of livelihood in the area is doing vegetable gardens and farming. Such disasters are making our lives difficult especially that fishing is on halt at the moment,” he lamented.

Mr Mwenya suggested that the best solution is to kill the animals since several warnings have been made to whoever is keeping such animals as nothing is being done.

He appealed to government through the Local Authority, Zambia Police and Department of National Parks and Wild Life to put their efforts together and come to the aid of the community in the area by getting rid of the animals.

“We are suffering as villagers. We spent a lot of money to buy farming inputs and vegetable seeds. This type of farming is our main source of our livelihood and we cannot continue to tolerate this for a long time,” Mr Mwenya lamented.

And Purity Mbalasu from Lupanjani village in Mambova said she wants to live in a united community adding that those who own animals should not look down upon those without them by uttering bad words to them when they complain.

Ms Mbalasu explained that whoever complains about animals is viewed to be jealous, a situation she described as barbaric because owners do not properly take care of their animals thereby leaving them to cause destruction.

Meanwhile, Assistant Veterinary Officer for Kazungula Central Athenesious Hamankolo admitted that several meetings have been held in Mambova in trying to address the issue with owners of domestic animals over the matter.

Mr Hamankolo told ZANIS in a telephone interview that it is unfortunate that animal owners do not want to comply with directives adding that it is better for the affected people to report the matter to the police so that action can be taken.

Last year Kazungula District Commissioner Elias Siamibila had advised those keeping animals in Mambova to look after them properly because they were causing havoc to fellow farmers’ fields adding that the animals would be slaughtered if found moving about.

ZANIS