Poor mode of transport system risks lives of cattle, says a businessman

A cattle businessman at Pugu auction mart which is located  on the outskirts of the city of Dar es Salaam has revealed that, lack of proper transport facilities has greatly been contributing to the untimely deaths of cattle while on transit from upcountry regions to the city market. Hezekiah Samwel a resident of Kibaigwa in Mpwapwa district, Dodoma region said recently in Dar es Salaam that, the use of long trucks which are poorly designed for transporting cattle are not safe bearing the fact that most roads are full of potholes that cause inconveniences while travelling. He noted that, they have been experiencing lots of problems while transporting cattle for sale from upcountry regions to Dar es Salaam based Pugu auction mart an aspect that some dies on the way due to congestion which becomes difficult to control and long distance. Speaking in an exclusive interview, he noted that, most cattle dealers have no option despite having fewer trucks which they hire to transport their cattle, have to overload their cattle to the extent that some dies on their way before reaching their destination points. 

He noted that there are no special trucks designed as a proper mode of transport and instead have to use normal trucks with long trailers for transporting their cattle an aspect which is very risky. He also noted that, this is an aspect that they end up experiencing such huge loses and instead some traders resort to skin them and take the meat to respective shops for sale as a way to recover the loses. He said a whole sale price for a cattle with a minimum weight of 200 Kgs in upcountry region is fetched at Tshs. 350,000/- excluding transportation charges up to the city market. The call by Samwel has come hardly four day after the government had allayed fears that there was a possibility for meat consumers to use unfit product following what it termed as an attempt to use unslaughtered cattle into Tegeta abattoir on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam city. On May 13^th a lorry carrying 42 hired cows and 12 bodies of the dead cows were apprehended while on their way to Tegeta abattoir. It was immediately discovered that, the dead bodies of the cows were not slaughtered. The incident had brought about fears that the meat consumers may be eating unsafe meat in the city of Dar es Salaam. Reacting over the matter, the Minister of Livestock and Fisheries Luhaga Mpina ordered the arrest of the owner of the lorry and the driver who is still at large.