The Regional Veterinary Officer for Upper West, Dr Sulemana Sako has identified lack of standard operating procedures (SOPs) in livestock markets as well as poor handling of animals as some of the challenges facing the livestock sector of the Region.
He made the observation at a three-day training workshop for members of the Wa livestock (cattle) market management committee in Wa.
The training is part of an initiative known as Project to Support Livestock Mobility for Better Access to Resources and Markets (PAMOBARMA) in West Africa.
The duration of the project is between 36 and 50 months with a budget of €11,750,832.00 for the West African sub-region whilst the budget for the Upper West and Savannah Regions is €629,332.00.
In this write-up, GBC’s in Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo says the program is the third component of the Regional Dialogue and Investment Project for Pastoralism and Transhumance in the Sahel and Coastal Countries of West Africa (PREDIP).
The training for the members of the cattle market management committee is a prelude to the re-development of the Wa cattle market situated along the Wa-Tumu.
This forms part of infrastructure development being embarked on by the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and organisational Development (CIKOD) as part of its implementation of PAMOBARMA.
The project, which is aimed at protecting the mobility of herds and their access to pastoral resources and markets, is being led by Acting for Life (AFL) of France with support from the European Union (EU) and Agence française de développement (AFD).
Dr Sulemana Sako stressed the need for the welfare of animals to be upheld because they also have freedoms.
He observed: “At the market, we have to guarantee all the five freedoms of animals: freedom from thirst, hunger and malnutrition. It means the facilities you have will have facilities for animals to drink, they should be well fed, the feed should be the quality that will nourish the animals. Freedom from discomfort, the floors should be such that the animals should not suffer, there should be protection against the clemencies of the weather, they have freedoms from pain, injury or disease.”
“The animals should not be beaten or the structure should be such that when the animals lie down, they should not be injured, the place must be kept in such hygienic condition such that animals do not contract any disease there,” Dr. Sako emphasised.
Dr Sako called for cooperation among all stakeholders of the project.
The Deputy Executive Director of CIKOD and Coordinator of PAMOBARMA, Daniel Banuoku announced that as part of the project, a192-kilometer livestock-corridor [between 50 to 100 metres wide] will be establish from Gwollu to Wa adding that there will be water-points at Han and Fian as well as a rest camp along the way.
He said: “In-between the corridor, we are going to provide water infrastructure, we are setting a water point at Han, and we are siting a second water point around Fian area there. So it could be a small dugout with water so that the herders will not have to leave the corridor in search of water or feed, so they have to stay within that area and then there is going to be a rest camp.”
There will also be corridor management committees in various communities along the corridors to make sure all the herders are accounted for during their journey.
The MCE for Wa, Issahaku Tahiru Moomin highlighted the significance of the cattle, saying “as you are all aware the cattle business is so important in the sense that, the meat that we largely consume, more than 70% of it comes from cattle and of course that is beef”.
“The rest also contribute to the rest of the percentage. So therefore, the role that the cattle market can play in the economic life of our people and the country cannot be over emphasized. So therefore all that needs to be done in strengthening this area must be seriously looked at.”
The MCE indicted that there is tension in cattle business because of the competing interests, adding that the project will help to eliminate or reduce tensions between cattle dealers and crop farmers in relation to cattle grazing.
The Programs officer of CIKOD, Valentine Danuor who spoke about the processes leading to the selection and siting of markets touched on some guiding posts.
“They range from diagnostics/cartography of markets, socio-economic study and collection of statistical data, land use plan, identification of owners of land rights, negotiations, social/contractual agreements, constitution of a monitoring committee to oversee the construction of the market, putting in place and training a market management committee, to construction of market infrastructure.”
The Secretary of the cattle Dealers Association, Issah Suleman indicted that the workshop will help to update cattle dealers on the full complement of the documents they need from veterinary officers in moving animals from one point to the other to ensure the health of animals they supply to consumers.
The project among others is to prepare conditions for access to natural resources and mobility of herds by strengthening the capacities of key actors in the sector at the cross border level.
It will help to improve the living conditions of agro-pastoral populations by providing fodder supplements, securing livestock corridors, providing market facilities and access to cross-border veterinary posts.
PAMOBARMA will equally ensure the consolidation of cross-border mobility by embedding activities at the regional authority level.
Story filed by Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo.