Drought kills 99 cattle in Lavumisa, Eswatini
Farmers in Maplotini say the death toll has almost doubled since the previous week as water sources run dry.
Drought has killed 99 cattle across 13 dip tanks at Maplotini in Lavumisa, and another 26 cattle were slaughtered because of their deteriorating condition. Maplotini Bucopho Sabelo Zulu said veterinary services had confirmed the deaths. The toll has almost doubled from the approximately 50 deaths reported at Maplotini, under Somntongo Inkhundla, the previous week.
Zulu said farmers had reported previously unrecorded deaths between October and November, and more cattle had died in the past week. He warned the toll could rise further after unverified reports of missing cattle suspected to have died in nearby forests. Grazing remains dry, water sources are depleted and earth dams hold little more than mud, so starving cattle walk more than eight kilometres towards Jozini in search of water.
Some animals reach dams only to become trapped in the mud and die, Zulu said. He called on government to urgently desilt, rehabilitate and repair earth dams around Maplotini and Lavumisa, saying buying water is too expensive for farmers to sustain their herds.
Why it mattersFarmers at Maplotini are losing cattle to drought and say buying water is too costly to keep their herds alive.