Kiboga cattle farmers say frustrated by fake drugs

The cattle keepers raised concerns on fake animal drugs which has slapped their work.

Cattle keepers in the cattle corridor district of Kiboga have called upon the government to do everything thing needed to eliminate fake animal drugs on the market.

According to the cattle keepers, they are now using tomato pesticide to eliminate ticks from their livestock.

John Asiimwe, the chairperson of Kiboga Livestock Initiative, says they accounting losses after discovering that the livestock drugs on market are fake.

According to Asiimwe, they are now using tomato pesticide to spray their herds.

Asiimwe said he used to spray his cattle with pesticide to eliminate ticks but the ticks became persistent and instead he resorted to tomato insecticides - which most farmers in the area use.

Asiimwe said he used own more than 250 head of cattle but since anthrax attack of 2023 wiped out his herd to leave him with just 47 head of cattle today.

"It was because the government is the one entitled to provide us with livestock drugs and that's why I lost my cattle," Asiimwe says.

He said they have suffered with ticks in his livestock and had to wait for the government to provide them with drugs.

"If the government allows us to buy our own drugs, we would at least avoid the loss of our cattle but we always wait for government drugs," Asiimwe says.

Farmers say after realising that the ticks were persistent after the government provided livestock drugs, he resorted to tomato insecticides and it's what they use to control ticks.

"Nowadays the government does not allow us to buy our own drugs for anthrax, but we would like to call upon the government to allow us buy our own livestock drugs because theirs takes long to rich the community," he added.

Patrick Ainebyona, a cattle keeper in Kapeke Subcounty, says now days he resorted to maize growing due to luck of livestock drugs in the area.

Kiboga Woman MP Christine Kaaya has tasked the government to give the district the cattle corridor status it is since most of the residents in this area are cattle keepers.

"I don't know why the government excludes Kiboga from the perks it is entitled to as a cattle corridor, Kiboga is one of those districts with cattle keepers, why doesn't the government intervene in these issues?" she said.

"As Parliament we are tasking the government to allow locals to have their own live stock drugs. Why do coffee farmers operate on their own and why can't the same work for farmers in the cattle corridor?"