Livestock farmers complain over ‘unfair treatment’

EASTERN PROVINCE NYAGATARE — A group of livestock farmers in Karangazi within Nyagatare district, have complained over what they termed as unfair treatment by local leaders who insist they sell off their cattle. Police in Nyagatare last week arrested five livestock farmers and detained them for a day, reportedly because they had failed to sell off their local cattle to buy exotic breeds, in line with the new district policy of modern farming. Fidel Karinda, one of the arrested, argues that they need ample time to dispose off their local breeds. Karinda said: “Yes we were detained because we still had local breeds, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t like hybrid cattle. We like the idea of keeping hybrid cows, they have better out put compared to the local breeds, but we need time to get rid of all the local breeds.” He said that since local leaders had already sensitised the farmers on the advantages of rearing hybrid cattle, they only need reminders without resorting to imprisonment. He added,“For example out of the 30 cows I have, only six are local breeds. But I have a problem of selling them before they wean their calves,” he explained. Karinda said they were released after committing to sell off the remaining local cattle breeds within a period of two weeks- which he says is not enough time. “It is a real hard decision on our part because of the calves which some of the local breeds have at the moment,”he noted. Meanwhile, Karinda claimed that after their release other six farmers were immediately arrested for the same offence, but we could not independently verify this. Contacted, the Nyagatare district Police Commander said it was not the police enforcing the policy. He referred the reporter to the Regional Police Commander (RPC) whom he said sits on the land committee. However, the RPC referred our reporter to the Mayor Robert Kashemeza, who did pick his phone. Ends