Veterinarians tell fish farmers, livestock owners to relocate

 Veterinarians tell fish farmers, livestock owners to relocate 

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA- THE Veterinary Council of Nigeria, VCN, has told fish farmers and livestock owners to immediately relocate to safer areas.

This charge was made by the Registrar, VCN, Dr. Markus Avong, at the weekend, while speaking on the alerts on flooding given by relevant government agencies.

Avong who also commended the early warning from the government to people living on floodplains and measures to take to contain the natural disaster said people should heed the warning and do the needful.

He said: “As you know relevant authorities have alerted Nigerians and asked them to move out of flood plains, and Veterinary Council of Nigeria stands by that.

“Livestock farmers should comply with government directive and what generally Nigerians will do to move away from areas that are prone to flooding to avoid any calamity.

“I think we should be happy that government is proactive giving warning Nigerians should adhere to the alert of government by moving away from areas prone to flooding in order to avoid any calamity.

“We are expecting that provision for the safety of livestock is made locally and to move them early to safer areas except if you have large poultry for commercial purpose, but there the challenge here is because people get their visibility study from persons who give them feasibility study to locate such capacity of poultry farm on flood prone area, and is very low.

“If there are cattle by the river bank their stay there is a temporary one because these are large animals and they are on free range and not in a ranch, you can move them to the hinterland and have a space for them.

“For sheep, especially when they are within the household because that is common with the settlements along the river bank and the goats are within the same compound you move them along with your property, and if nowhere to move them you can salvage them by selling. I don’t foresee this problem of very serious consequence if people heed to the government warning.

He also advised fish farmers and said, “The other group is fish farmers as most often people want to use the advantage of their closeness to rivers to have their fish ponds, the advice one can give is if the fish has reached market size to harvest and sell them and if you don’t have a market find a way to smoke them, but they are not up to market size and there is tendency to flooding as warning ahead of time gives you the opportunity to seeking alternative place to keep them.

“You can buy surface tanks then move to them up-land and continue your business there, and that would have helped you save some money, also save some money if you heed the warning because the flood sweeps everything away.”