The Government has called on farmers to embrace a new locally manufactured drug in the country’s battle to fight tick-borne diseases. The appeal comes in the wake of cattle deaths stemming from mixing livestock drugs with crop pesticides by farmers as they desperately  sought for solutions to fight drug resistant ticks.  

 Two farmers lost a combined 27 cows in the process.

Cases of cattle dying of the mixture of tick resistant drugs and pesticides used in crop protection first surfaced on June 26, 2018 in Gatsibo District’s Rwimbogo Sector. In an attempt to deal with drug resistant ticks, farmers in Gatsibo sprayed some 31 cows with a concoction of crop pesticides and Nortraz— a substance deadly to mites or ticks—whose brands include Milbtraz, Amitraz, and Amitix. Most of the cows died of drug generated poison.

Livestock officials are now pushing for the use of PermaPy Plus, which is manufactured by Agropy—a subsidiary of Horizon Group Ltd—which produces various natural farm products from pyrethrum.

Dr Solange Uwituze, the Deputy Director General of Animal Research and Technology Transfer at Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB), said that Nortraz has been used for a long time, and hence ticks developed resistance to this drug partly due poor handling practices like under dose, partial and irregular spraying by farmers.

François Niyonsaba, one of the farmers from Gatsibo District who lost cows to the poisonous spray told The New Times lost 16 cows while his neighbour lost 11 cows.

"I had bought a drug called ‘Milbitraz’ to fight ticks. But, since there is a problem drug resistant ticks, instead of dying, they grow bigger in size. So, my elder brother added another drug, whose application was fatal,” the 48 year old recounted.

He appealed to the government to look for effective drugs to kill tick drug resistant ticks. The Eastern and Southern provinces are reportedly the most affected by drug resistant ticks.

Uwituze is advocating for Permapy Plus, which she says that it is effective on repelling ticks, flies, and mosquitoes alike.  In addition, she said, it is also good for fighting Rift Valley Fever (RVF).

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), RVF is a deadly viral cattle disease caused by a virus transmitted by mosquitoes and blood feeding flies and mostly affects animals but it can also be transmitted to humans. 

The Chairman of Rwanda National Dairy Farmers’ Federation, Gahiga Gashumba, said the issue of drug resistance has been persisting, which prompted desperate farmers to resort to mixing it with pesticides used in crops.

While the locally made drug has efficacy to kill ticks, he said, it is expensive as one litre costs Rwf19,000.

According to RAB, farmers should effectively spray their cows two times every week.

However, Dr Uwituze said government installed livestock crushes at cell level, encouraging farmers to buy the drugs collectively and spray the same day and to share the cost.

How to use PermaPy Plus drug 

PermaPy Plus (Liquid) is a tick and fly destructive drug. According to information from Agropy, to use the drug, dilute 2mL in 1L of water and spray the entire coat of the animal. For heavy infestation use higher dose up to 5mL of PermaPy per 1L of water. Mix the solution thoroughly before spraying the animal.

Uwituze warned that "it is absolutely forbidden to mix two or more drugs at the farm level because the mixture may turn into something poisonous and deadly as it was an unfortunate case in Gatsibo.”

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