The
West African country of Senegal may have advanced battle over Tsetse fly in the
country, just as a foundation plan has been put in place to improve livestock
sector, NaijaAgroNet reports.
NaijaAgroNet gathers that a
campaign against the tsetse fly, a pest that transmits a disease that
devastates livestock in the Niayes area near the capital Dakar has radically
reduced the fly population and is paving the way for complete
eradication.
Project manager and Head, Animal Health
Section in the Senegalese Ministry of Livestock, Baba Sall, confirmed this
development to NaijaAgroNet,
saying that since the project started, there is already less disease.
“It has not only reduced the tsetse but also
ticks, which cause lots of other diseases in the area. We have noticed over all
better health of the herds," he said
NaijaAgroNet pointed out that a multi-year
programme of the Government of Senegal, with financial help from the United
States and technical support from the Centre de Coopération Internationale en
Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), France, is slowly
eradicating the tsetse fly using a method called the Sterile Insect Technique.
The programme, he said, is supported by the
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) through its joint division with the
International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.
The Niayes area has a coastal micro-climate
suitable for exotic breeds of cattle, the kind that produces more milk and meat
than domestic stock.
Unfortunately, the area is also home to the
tsetse fly, which transmits trypanosomosis. Often lethal, the disease reduces
fertility, weight gain, meat and milk production and makes the cattle too weak
to be used for ploughing or transport.
A government study estimates that when the
tsetse fly is completely eradicated in the Niayes farmers will earn €1.2
million ($1.6 million) more per year because they will spend less on treating
animals and earning more profit from selling milk and meat.
NaijaAgroNet further gathered that the
government has an ambitious plan to introduce exotic livestock breeds and
create a modern meat and dairy sector in the area, which is near the capital
Dakar.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
... Linking agrobiz, people & technology
