THE government loses 263bn/- annually on illegal exportation of livestock and importation of livestock products, which lead to unfair competition for both local and international stakeholders in the sector.
The Minister for Livestock and
Fisheries, Mr Luhaga Mpina, said yesterday during the livestock auction
at Namanga in Longido District, Arusha Region, that the government had
been losing revenue through illegal exportation of livestock.
The minister was speaking as he launched
a special national operation dubbed ‘Operesheni Nzagamba 2018’ to
control revenues in the livestock sector.
According to Minister Mpina, the
operation will cover ports, livestock auctioning areas, airports,
borders, supermarkets and all abattoirs across the country.
He said his ministry had discovered that
some traders had been engaged in illegal cross-border trading in
livestock, animal drugs and other products.He added that recently, a
total of 22,000 goats were seized at Namanga border being transported to
Kenya.
“We have increased revenues to 200m/- in
a period of one month after starting a close follow up on livestock
businesses,” he said.
According to Mr Mpina, the early
approximation indicates that a total of 1.6 cattle are illegally
exported from the country annually, occasioning loss to the government
of 56.4bn/- He added that on leather business, the country lost 87.6bn/-
annually the annual loss related to milk and meat was 120bn/-.
Mr Mpina said the government would
impose heavy fines on traders who would be arrested while in the process
of transporting livestock outside the country illegally.
“We always collect 20,000/- per each cow
and 5,000/- per goat that is transported outside the country, contrary
to that the traders will suffer the consequences,” he said.
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