Floods put livestock under threat

Nobody prepares for floods at the end of what is supposed to be the outset of the rainy season.

Which is why the floods that have affected Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe have taken the three countries by surprise.

Sometimes you can, at least, prepare for such eventualities and alert people to measures to take to avert disaster.

But not domesticated animals.

On this basis, Malawi has been taken by surprise by the Cyclone Ida and Cyclone Desmond-induced floods.

In that package of surprise is the loss of up to 60 lives now, with thousands more people displaced, including 230,000 women, according to United Nations agencies. 

Now, it has been established that Malawi has lost at least 15, 000 livestock to floods at the national level.

Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development statistics indicate that 15,444 livestock drowned, with the department’s director, Dr Patrick Chikungwa, saying they want to mitigate the risks of the loss to farmers through the Flood Emergency Response Programme in conjuction with World Animal Protection.

Whatever the case, recovering from the loss of 15,000 livestock would be a tall order.

The best solution, for the time being, could be to safeguard the remaining livestock from internal and external parasites by de-worming them.

That work must start now.