HOW CHINESE BENEFIT FROM TANZANIAN DONKEYS

 

A trader offloads donkeys from a lorry ready for sale at the Huacheng International yard in Kizota area, Dodoma. (Photo: Ibrahim Joseph)
 

By Polycarp Machira After every three weeks at least 1 - 40 tonnes of donkey meat leaves Tanzania for other countries where the product is widely consumed, thanks to the recently established donkey slaughter house in Dodoma.

For the past three months that the Chinese company, Huacheng International, located at Kizota area in Dodoma municipality has been in operation, it is estimated that over 18,000 donkeys mainly from the Central Zone have been slaughtered.

The company, according our reliable sources slaughters up to 200 donkeys per day when operating in full capacity and process at least five 40-foot containers, about 28 tonnes each after every three weeks.

The consignments, according to sources go to China and Turkey but do not show Tanzania as the country origin.

Investigations by The Guardian on Sunday have revealed that the number is much higher than that of the animals the investor has been permitted to slaughter.

Records show that the slaughter house was initially registered as a tannery by the Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) only to be turned into a donkey slaughter facility.

An official from Dodoma municipal council who declined to be named said the investor was given a permit to slaughter 40 donkeys per day for a period of one year.

“The investor was given the ‘low number’ as the government had to conduct research to establish birth rate of donkeys and their availability in the region and the country at large.” said the source.

He said the Chinese investor later requested to be allowed to slaughter more donkeys since more and more animals were being sent to the factory for purchase.

The donkeys were initially purchased from within the district but as the information spread, according to source many of the animals started coming from farther afield as like Kondoa, Mpwapwa, Kongwa within Dodoma region.

In the area, one could easily get a donkey free of charge or buy it for as low as Sh30,000 before the company was established. Currently, the animals cost between Sh150,000 and Sh180, 000 depending on the size and health.

The improved price and demand for the animals attracted traders from other regions like Arusha, Singida and Morogoro causing the investor to increase production from 40 to donkeys per day.

Speaking to this reporter, Central Zonal Veterinary Centre In- charge, Daniel Mdetele confirmed that the investor requested to be allowed to slaughter more donkeys.

“He was later allowed to slaughter a maximum of 120 every day because there were many donkeys just wandering around,” he said.

However, he maintained that government inspectors in his office used to inspect the company’s daily meat production.

One of the reasons why the inspectors go there is to ensure the Chinese investors slaughter only healthy donkeys as per the required standards and also to see to it that the meat does not go out of the factory for local use.

On the notion that donkeys are not for human consumption as they could have unknown diseases unlike other domestic animals, he replied: “The animal does not differ from others,… like cow, goat or sheep.”

Donkey population
Mass slaughter of donkeys, it is feared, could drastically reduce the number of donkeys and lead to their disappearance. “It is unfair to slaughter a species whose infant mortality rate is quite high! I hope our grand children don’t get to hear of donkeys as we hear about dinosaurs,” notes Thomas Maurus, a resident of Kizota.

Maurus (78) who lives 200 metres from the factory and owns 16 donkeys argues the animals reproduce in long intervals.

He added: “When I was young, donkeys used to roam wherever they wanted, they were the most treasured animals and were treated with care since they did chores that men could not do. They were man’s best second friend the then.”

A strong campaign is needed following the mistreatment of donkeys and decrease of their numbers. Most people in the rural areas need their service, especially for fetching water and transporting goods.

The declining number of donkeys is noticeable around towns like Dodoma because they are openly slaughtered for meat.

There were 94,000 donkeys in Singida and Dodoma regions according to a census conducted last year. Arusha and Manyara regions have the highest number of donkeys, with Siminjiro District alone having 15,015 donkeys.

It is estimated that there were about 250,000 working donkeys in Tanzania by 2005, with concentrations in the northern pastoral and agro pastoral areas where they are used as pack animals with water being the main commodity transported.

 Elsewhere donkeys are used to a limited extent in transport and traction work. There is little interest in equines by the central and local governments or the general public and the status quo can be expected to continue.

Tanzania is home to second largest population of livestock in Africa. Cattle are the most numerous followed by goats, sheep and pigs. Numerically, donkeys fall far behind the ruminant species and are fewer in number than pigs.

Why have donkey slaughter house
Dodoma region is blessed to host probably the first donkey slaughter hours in Tanzania and the entire East Africa.

A reliable source in the ministry of Livestock Development and Fisheries confirmed that plans to establish such a facility in Naivasha, Kenya posed a threat for the Tanzanian donkeys.

“The consideration was that since most livestock, especially cattle are smuggled to Kenya, the feeling was that donkeys would still be illegally exported to the Chinese factory in Naivasha” he said.

Donkey meat is a popular snack food in some areas of China, although it accounts for a small portion of total meat consumption.

In 2011, China’s livestock industry yearbook reported that the country slaughtered over 2.4 million donkeys.

However, a recent food scandal from earlier this year found that donkey meat snack products purchased at the local Wal-Mart supercenters contained traces of fox meat, suggesting that the Chinese may need to start importing the meat from Kenya.

China is experiencing dramatic changes in its food consumption as people become wealthy and move into the cities.

Meat suppliers are struggling to cope with the huge increase in demand, says the South China Morning Post. People eat twice as much meat and three times as much dairy as they did 30 years ago, official figures suggest.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY