Ghana to benefit from programme to eradicate tsetse fly

Wa, May 29, GNA - A six-year programme to eradicate tsetse-fly that inhibit food crop and livestock production in most parts of the country will commence soon under the Pan African Tsetse and Trypanomiasis Eradication Campaign (PATTEC).

An amount of 12 million dollars has already been approved for the launch of the Ghana programme, which is to take place in the upper west region, The African Coordinator of PATTEC, Dr John Kabayo of Uganda, announced this on Monday when he paid a courtesy call on the Upper West Regional Minister, Ambrose Dery at Wa.

He said the programme was part of a 70 million-dollar African Development Bank funded campaign to fight the tsetse fly menace in Africa, which stretches from Senegal to South Africa. He said as a result of the debilitating nature of the flies, most farmers desert the otherwise fertile tsetse affected areas, leaving the areas waste adding that as a result of the problem, Africa loses an estimated 4.5 billion dollars in lost production.

Dr Kabayo said about 80 per cent of livestock in the affected regions succumb to the bite of the blood-sucking insects while affecting the health of the people as well.

He called for effective collaboration and coordination among the affected countries because the disease spreads across boundaries. He said Burkina Fasso, Ghana and Mali in West Africa are the countries included in the six-year first phase of the campaign with Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia in East Africa.

Dr Charles Mahama, national coordinator of the programme, said its focus would be along the Black Volta where the tsetse flies largely breed. 29 May 06