 |
| Vaccination |
Officially opening
the third Central District's Council session recently, Mr Galeragwe said
an application was to be submitted to the European Union for cattle
from the central zone to reach their market, adding that the disease
status for veterinary disease control Zone 7 had not changed from FMD
intensive surveillance zone.
"An ear-tagging
campaign last year April has not yielded desirable results. Out of a
total of 108 159 tags that had been issued to 6 245 farmers, only 80 705
tags, which makes 75 per cent have been inserted," he said.
He noted that 27
184 ear tags or 25 per cent were still with farmers, adding that it was a
serious failure to comply and a hindrance towards efforts of applying
for a FMD free status.
On the economy and
employment under the Department of Education, Mr Galeragwe said the
Central District Council had been given P425 000 to manufacture 17
donkey carts for other areas in the district. He said initially the
council was given a provision to procure 32 donkey carts in the Ministry
of Basic Education's initiative to transport pupils to school.
Mr Galeragwe said
although communities that such carts were made for seemed to be shunning
them, the council was continuing dialogue with the communities to hire
out their donkeys and drivers so that pupils could be transported to
school.
"It is envisaged
that all the carts will be operational before the end of the year," he
said. He also noted that foodstuffs that were previously supplied by
food relief services had been handed over to local authorities to
purchase them. He said funding of over P66 million had been provided for
foodstuffs for all the 238 primary schools. He said the money would
also be used to purchase agriculture products and pay hand stampers for
the financial year 2017/18.
He added that they
had also been granted permission to use food relief services depots as
they had previously done, including sharing transportation and staff for
delivering foodstuffs to schools.
"These foods are
sorghum, samp and beans. Beans will, however, be purchased from Botswana
Agricultural Marketing Board," he said. He said the menu for primary
schools would be improved gradually, adding that it was meant for
children to boost their immune system.
"In this current
financial year, schools have been asked to purchase vegetables for their
learners. Learners will also be provided with a fruit, with their
normal milk and bread supply," he said.
Mr Galeragwe said
children in rural areas would be given an egg three times a week while
those in peri-urban areas would be given an egg twice a week. Those in
urban areas would be given one egg per week.
On environmental
health, he said the district was faced with challenges of waste handling
and disposal. He noted that indiscriminate dumping of waste in open
spaces and road reserves between villages left the environment
unsightly. "These are environmental health challenges that need to be
addressed by the leadership in all forums," he said.
Mr Galeragwe noted
that in a bid to overcome such challenges, they had continued to stage
clean up campaigns that inspired and empowered communities to clean and
conserve their environment. He urged councillors to support the annual
clean-up campaign. He also noted that the world commemoration for a
clean-up campaign for the Central District would be held on September
14.
"When the
environment is sick and polluted, human health is impossible. To heal
ourselves we must first heal the environment. A desire for a clean up
campaign is a powerful sense of destiny and hope for the future," he
said.
The council also
took time to observe a moment of silence for the late former president,
Sir Ketumile Masire and councillor Leposo Mosarwe.
No comments:
Post a Comment