JINJA – Government is preparing to register all animals in the country in a bid to issue them birth certificates.
This was revealed by the Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja during the official opening of the 27th Source of the Nile Agricultural Show in Jinja.
He said this will be done to fulfill international market requirements.
“We will register the owner of the cow, and the village where the farm is located. Every cow will be allocated a serial number, and every calf will be given a certificate at birth. This is so because meat consumers want to know the age of the cow.” said Hon Ssempijja.
He noted that demand for meat in the market today depends on the age of the cow since consumers prefer meat from cows aged below 24 months.
Hon Ssempija says registration will not be limited to farmers engaged in cattle rearing, but also those engaged in fish farming and other crops including maize and coffee will be required to do so.
The new initiative comes a few months after government introduced a controversial Coffee Bill in parliament which among other things requires coffee farmers to register and acquire licences from government.
The bill whose objective is to improve productivity and standards, proposes the registration of farmers capturing details of the size of their land, the number of coffee trees and particulars of the farmers, coffee buyers and sellers among others.
The bill also proposes that land, where the coffee is to be grown shall be evaluated by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority to determine its suitability for coffee growing.
