MINISTER of Livestock and Fisheries Peter Kapala says since the inception of the dip tank construction and rehabilitation programme in 2014, government has completed 207 dip tanks, while works on 200 have stalled.
Kapala says the PF administration’s dip tank programme was a disaster, marred by poor management and wastefulness, as can be seen from the unsuccessful completion of the infrastructure.
Delivering a ministerial statement in the National Assembly, Wednesday, Kapala said 55 percent of the works remained incomplete and that the construction and rehabilitation period had lapsed.
“Madam Speaker, the total cost of the dip tank programme was estimated at K58,180,091. Initially the programme was funded through the euro bond in 2014. Additional funds were later sourced through the treasury. A total of K43,721,810.50 has been paid to contractors so far leaving an outstanding balance of K14,458,281. Midway through the programme in 2017, when it was clear that the funds were not sufficient to complete the works, the government directed that only infrastructure that had reached 80 percent and above were to be completed and paid for. This left a lot of these facilities unattended to despite initial payments that were made towards their construction,” Kapala said.
“Madam Speaker, since the inception of the project in 2014, my ministry has completed 207 dip tanks while 200 are still at construction level (works have stalled). A total of 53 dip tanks are still under mobilisation. This implies that 55 percent of the works remain uncompleted and the time period for construction and rehabilitation has lapsed. It is disheartening to note that of the completed dip tanks, 90 percent are not operational. The lack of utilisation is as a result of various factors ranging from farmer non- compliance, lack of water sources and poor workmanship leading to cracks, inappropriate structure for dipping cattle and non-hand-over of projects resulting from none clearance of construction debt”.
He said the main purpose of facilitating the construction of dip tanks was to mitigate against tick-borne diseases, which were a major contributor to livestock morbidity and mortality in Zambia.
“The House may wish to note that the main purpose of facilitating the construction and rehabilitation of Dip tanks was to mitigate against tick-borne diseases which are the major contributor to livestock morbidity and mortality in Zambia. As government, we shall endeavour to control and prevent tick-borne diseases such as East Coast Fever (ECF) (commonly known as corridor disease) and heart water through regular and effective dipping of animals. I have been informed that these diseases cannot be eradicated because of factors such as reservoir hosts in wildlife and the availability of ticks in the environment,” Kapala said.
“Madam Speaker, plunge dips, otherwise called Dip tanks are the preferred method of dipping large numbers of livestock, especially cattle. If constructed and used correctly, plunge dips ensure complete wetting of the animal, especially important areas such as inside the ears and under the tail where ticks are usually found. Dipping is crucial to guarantee good health of animals, and this can be done by ensuring the country has a dip tank density and coverage that is adequate in servicing all communal livestock farming areas. Dip tanks are critical because when effectively deployed, they can assure optimum disease management, treatment and control and this is beneficial to the health of animals and their productivity. Therefore, dip tanks are key to the growth of the livestock sector which contributes an estimated 35 percent to the agriculture’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)”.
He further said the implementation of the programme was not successful under PF because of poor management and wastefulness.
“Let me make it clear that the dip tank programme implementation has not been successful in the past particularly during the Patriotic Front regime. The previous administration dip tank construction and rehabilitation programme was a disaster marred by poor management and wastefulness. This can be seen from unsuccessful completion of dip tank infrastructure. It should be noted that, after undertaking a detailed review of the progress, most of the dip tanks that were constructed are not complete and functional. Others are dilapidated, not in use and require more funding to be operationalised. In addition, government still owes a number of contractors huge sums of money,” said Kapala.
“It is very difficult to comprehend how the programme was managed because it seems to have been riddled with complications and dishonesty and this has made it difficult to even verify and pay those that claim to have had successfully completed the works. As a responsible government that places livestock high on the economic agenda of this country, we are keen to ensure enhanced production and productivity of livestock through provision of the required infrastructure. We will, therefore, take the necessary corrective measures to ensure these facilities enhance the development of the livestock subsector. We will, in line with the decentralisation policy, devolve the function of construction and rehabilitation of dip tanks to local authorities so that it is community led and demand driven, among others”.
