Veterinary legal reform in Tanzania

INTRODUCTION One of the major challenges faced by the livestock sub-sector in Tanzania is how to utilize opportunities available from the ongoing socio-economic reforms to enable the sub-sector to become one of the major contributors to the national GDP. This is because livestock production is one of the major agricultural activities in Tanzania. As a major local income assuror, the livestock sub-sector contributes substantially to poverty reduction and food security in rural areas. It provides about 30 per cent of the National Agricultural GDP, out of which about 40 percent originates from beef production, 30 percent from milk and another 30 percent from poultry and small stock production. The Tanzania livestock population and distribution has been increasing steadily (ranking third in Africa) in recent decades at roughly same rate as the human population growth. Out of 3.7 million households in the country, 3 percent are pastoralists and 7 percent are agro-pastoralists. Cattle are dominant species, they account for about 75 percent of total livestock population. There are also sheep, goats, poultry, and pigs. Approximately, 99 percent of livestock sub-sector belongs to traditional (small) owners, with big ranches and dairy farms constituting the remaining 1 percent.