The woes of about five hundred rabbit farmers in Gbullung, a suburb of the newly created Kumbugu district of the Northern Region are about to be a thing of the past following an intervention by the Ghana Veterinary Service to provide a periodic screening in order to avert the increasing loss of rabbits in the district.
The Kumbungu district director of Agriculture Madam Hawa Musah, announced this at a stakeholder‘s forum organized by the Gbullung Area Youth Association in Kumbugu.
The forum was to brainstorm on the way forward on rabbit production in the area. Madam Hawa Musah who lamented over the situation, stressed that her outfit would provide veterinary services to rabbit farmers every month to enable farmers protect what she described as their livelihood.
The district director of agriculture however revealed that her outfit lack adequate personnel and means of transport to reach out to all the 230 communities in the district to provide services to farmers.
The programme which was sponsored by BUSAC Fund to advocate for the services of veterinary services was aimed at curbing mortality of rabbits in the Kumbugu district. She said as a result of these challenges, farmers would be put into groups to enable the month interaction between them and inspect field officers.
Madam Hawa Musah also encouraged the farmers not to hesitate to visit her office with problems pertaining to their animals for immediate redress. One of the veterinary officers, Mr. Alhassan also promised to immediately visit the Gbullung community to examine the rest of the rabbits left.
On his part, a service Provider, Jonas Yengnibeh revealed that rabbit farming which was once a vibrant source of livelihood to the community is dwindling due to the frequent dying of these animals. Mr. Jonas Yengnibeh disclosed this when he presented a research finding carried out by the association on the issues pertaining to rabbit farming in the area.
Mr. Jonas attributed cause of death of the rabbits to poor feeding, poor housing and sanitation including infestations by ecto-parasites and worms.
According to him, it was also clear from the research that not all farmers benefit from the services of the four veterinary officers who manned the inspection unit in the district in which one of them will be retiring soon.
