Gov’t kick starts emergency FMD vaccinations
Lesedi Mkhutshwa - Mbongeni Mguni | Monday September 19, 2022 06:00
The villages are Jackalas 1, Ramokgwebana, Tsamaya, Tshesebe, Butale, Senyawe, Siviya and Mabuzane all located in agricultural Zone 6b.
“It an effort to curb the spread of the disease, we have started an emergency vaccination in the infected area and so far a total of 9,606 cattle have been vaccinated out of the 19,000 cattle population,” assistant Agriculture Minister, Molebatsi Molebatsi said yesterday.
Government has also startedconsultations with farmers in the area on possible actions to be taken to deal with the outbreak which is reportedly the country’s first in two years. A containment zone has been declared around the affected villages and is bounded by Bisoli ranch to the south, Bisoli to Vakaraga and Vakaranga to Dikgatlhong.
Molebatsi stressed that no decisions has yet been taken on the affected livestock in the area beyond the emergency vaccination.
However, farmers are being consulted on quarantining the cattle in the containment zone for not less than 30 days.
In the past, government has been forced to slaughter animals as a response to Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks, with compensation paid to the affected farmers. Compensation has been in the form of cash and kind, with farmers being given cattle in return for those destroyed.
Investigations to determine whether the disease has spread to other types of livestock are still ongoing, Molebatsi said.
The recent outbreak triggered livestock movement restrictions and a countrywide beef and beef product export ban. While the restrictions have been relaxed for areas outside Zone 6b, the export ban remains in place, affecting farmers across the country and the Botswana Meat Commission.
“The export of livestock and meat remains suspended until the disease investigation is concluded and export protocols are agreed with trading partners/importing countries,” Molebatsi said.
The movement and slaughter restriction for Zone 6b also applies to adjoining zones 3c, 6a and 7, the assistant minister said.