The government is committed to ensuring safety of all livestock and crop products by curbing the dealership of counterfeit herbicides and pesticides.
Addressing the media at the Media Centre today, the State Minister for Agriculture Christopher Kibazanga said the government had put in place plans to arrest and prosecute all fake animal and crop drug dealers.
The Minister, who was launching the ‘Veterinary Week’ that runs from April 24-29, said it is aimed at creating awareness about anti-microbial resistance and the corrective usage of anti-biotics. He said the ministry has collaborated with 115 districts to organize the week, with workshops and football matches at the police play grounds in Mpigi district.
Further, he said, the government has intervened and almost nuetralised a new type of tick that has been killing herds of cattle through awareness and importing of new pesticides, adding however, that “the government is yet to link farmers to genuine veterinary shops with genuine herbicides and antibiotics’’.
The Minister also implored government to extend a financial assistance to veterinary doctors through salary increment, cold tins and transport to ease their work. He however lauded the veterinians for the great work done regardless of all challenges.
