AKSG Vaccinates 5,000 Goats Against Deadly Diseases, Exercise Continues

Agriculture

AKSG Vaccinates 5,000 Goats Against Deadly Diseases, Exercise Continues

More than 5,000 goats were vaccinated free of charge by the Akwa Ibom government against a disease called Kata between last November and this year in the state. The director of veterinary services in the state Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Obot Obot, who made the disclosure while speaking with Midweek Pioneer Agric in Uyo, said the exercise, which was flagged off at Nto Edino, Obot Akara Local Government headquarters, by the commissioner for agriculture, Dr Glory Edet, November last year is ongoing in the state. Obot said government's gesture was aimed at preventing Kata diseases from destroying our African dwarf goats in the state, thereby improving on the protein intake of the general Akwa Ibom public. His words: "The only way to mitigate the diseases is through vaccination to rescue goats from dying. If the disease is prevented in the state through vaccination by veterinary doctors we will have more goats to eat. The goats' vaccination exercise, the director of veterinary services said, has been extended to many local government areas including Ikot Ekpene, Itu, Onna, Ibesikpo, Nsit Atai, Uyo, Eket, and Mbo, noting that about three communities invited the Ministry of Agriculture to carry out the vaccination exercise against the spread in the state. Obot explained that the ongoing vaccination exercise was a way of encouraging farmers to make more profit from their sweat of breeding goats in the state. He said officials of the Ministry were using the vaccination exercise to also educate farmers on modern techniques of animal husbandry, noting that farmers are enlightened on the need to provide their goats with salt to leak, being essential vitamins and mineral for them to grow well. Farmers, he said, were also educated on the need to deworm their goats regularly, for them to perform well, noting that worm load would prevent goats from performing better. Obot posited that although goat milk are nutritional to human health, the Ministry was interested in the production of goats that could give birth to two, three and four at a go to enable them to make more money and create wealth in the state. Describing goat production as being very germaine and less cumbersome as compared to poultry, the director of veterinary services encouraged rural farmers to venture into goat farming, where weeds are available to feed them. Obot advised farmers to always construct good shades for their goats to prevent them from roaming about to destroy people's farms, advising that for farmers to start raising goats they should acquire at least two females and a male goat to encourage unhindered procreation. It could be recalled that while flagging off the goat vaccination campaign in the state last year, the commissioner for agriculture, Dr Glory Edet, urged farmers to either take their goats to Veterinary Clinics and Stations of the Ministry of Agriculture in almost all the local government headquarters or present same at their respective farms or homes for vaccination by officials of her Ministry. Edet, who described as essential services, the campaign on the vaccination of goats against Kata in the state, was optimistic that the exercise by the veterinary doctors would ensure rapid growth, safety and protection of locally produced goats in the state for consumption.