Goat Agribusiness project works with over 20 000 farmers across 5 district municipalities in 140 project sites organised around livestock diptanks.
GAP uses dip tanks as primary building in the areas in which we work. Click on the button above to understand why.
The project sites are in the following 5 district municipalities- Mzinyathi, Uthukela, King Cetshwayo, Mkhanyakude, Zululand.
A dip tank is a structure built by the state comprising of a narrow, deep cement bath that is filled with water and pesticide. On both sides of the structure are wooden railings that assist in restraining cattle while they are being treated. Cattle jump into the bath and covered with the pesticide and climb out on the other side.
Dip tanks are the center of community livestock systems in rural areas. This is where livestock owners meet weekly. At present, they are dominated by men who are cattle owners and use the dipping infrastructure for their cattle. They are managed by elected structure that interfaces with the state veterinarians on controlled diseases and free pesticide. The dip tanks are geographically independent in as much as the community that is served by the dip tank. Often overlies traditional magisterial and provincial boundaries.
Women are generally not part of this system or institution but where we are working on the goat program, they are being recruited and integrated into it. This is the only official community structure that interfaces with the state around agriculture in almost every part of the country. They are useful as a community structure, a livestock body and a state community interface that has legal standing. GAP uses these dip tanks as primary building in the areas in which we work.
