Solomon Islands Cattle Farm Looks To Expand

By Silas Lilo

Local Cattle Farm Looks To Expand

A local cattle farmer in the Ngalimbiu area is calling on the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock in helping him to expand his cattle paddock.

During the visitation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock team Friday last week at Tenavatu, the team also made a brief visit to a small cattle farm owned by Mr Arthur Mane.

Mr Mane was one of the local cattle farmer in East Guadalcanal who in past years raised many cattle but during the height of the ethnic turmoil he lost almost all of his cattle and managed to keep only two of them, one bull and a cow.

He said he kept the two cattle beside his house. However, it was after the Peace agreement was signed in 2000 when the normalcy returns that he started to purchase materials and built a paddock which is about 40 hectares.

As the years went by the number of the cattle in his farm started to increase that when the delegation from the Ministry visited last week, Mr Mane's herd has grown to 18 heads.

However, he said presently it is not an easy job to look after cattle because as the number of cattle increases, his paddock is getting smaller.

He said he had another 200 hectares of land available for expansion but this can not be carried out because of financial problems.

Mr Mane added most of the local cattle farmers in that area seems to have given up and now not interested in cattle farming because lack of assistance.

He therefore called for the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock to see the need of rural farmers and assisted them in terms of financial support to help them pay for the fencing materials and expand their cattle farms.

ENDS

More: Latest World News | Top World News | World Digest | Archives

© Scoop Media