In a move aimed at addressing unemployment and improving access to animal health services in rural areas in the Eastern Cape province, the Eastern Cape government has invested a total of R512 000 to support 13 Animal Health Technicians (AHTs) to start their own Primary Animal Healthcare Facilities.
The initiative is led by the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture’s Tsolo Agriculture and Rural Development Institute (TARDI).
This is after legislative reforms in 2022 created a framework that allows AHTs to operate as private sector entrepreneurs, enabling expanded access to animal health services, create job opportunities and open economic opportunities for graduates.
Recently, MEC for Economic Development Environmental Affairs and Tourism Nonkqubela Pieters handed over starter kits which included equipment and vouchers to the 13 young entrepreneurs. The equipment includes an animal branding kit, a dowsing gun, animal castration equipment, biosecurity equipment, mini fridges, cooler boxes and microscopes among others.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, MEC Pieters said the establishment of Primary Animal Healthcare Facilities within local communities was a ”critical intervention.”
“It decentralizes service delivery, reduces the cost and time burden on farmers and strengthens the first line of defence against animal disease and livestock losses.
“We are enhancing biosecurity and disease surveillance capacity at a community level,” Pieters said.
Meanwhile, one of the beneficiaries, Zimasa Qwayede, who owns a Primary Healthcare Facility in Alfred
Nzo District said this equipment will enable her company to operate as a fully-fledged Animal Healthcare Facility. Qwayele expressed appreciation for the coordinated intergovernmental effort saying that the collaboration was instrumental in ensuring that AHTs in the province were empowered with business skills to run successful enterprises.
