Foot-and-Mouth disease threatens North East District

EDWARD BULE
Correspondent | Wednesday June 30, 2010 00:00

 

These revelations were made by Minister of Agriculture,Christian de Graff, during a special meeting of the Francistown City full council on Monday. De Graff said that the disease was found in cattle in Kitwe, a communal area in the Plumtree sub-district of the Matabeleland South Province, only 30 kilometres from the Botswana-Zimbabwe border. As is common in border areas outbreaks on either side of the border soon spread to the neighbouring country.

'Outbreaks of FMD in southern Zimbabwe have a history of spreading into Botswana,' he said. 'In August 2001, an outbreak in the Plumtree sub-district eventually spilled over into Botswana in February 2002, resulting in the Matsiloje outbreak.

'Similarly, in 2003 and 2006, FMD outbreaks at Matopi and Bobirwa respectively were spillovers from Zimbabwe.'Botswana is vulnerable to FMD from Zimbabwe because of factors such as the short distance between the place of the outbreak and the border, continuous damage to the cordon fence along the border by people and elephants and cross-border stocktheft, minister de Graaf said.

He described the communal livestock production system as encouraging the spread of FMD because the movement of livestock in the communal areas is not controlled.  Also complicating the situation is the fact that some farmers in Botswana employ immigrants from Zimbabwe as herd-boys who had been in contact with infected cattle in their country.

The presence of buffaloes among livestock in Zimbabwe also aids the spreading of the disease. The minister spoke about measures being taken by the government against the spread of the disease.

Kgotla meetings will be held to educate the public, especially in the North East, Francistown, Selibe-Phikwe and Bobirwa districts where people will be sensitised on what to do to prevent the spread of the disease.

'Importation of cloven hoofed animals and their meat and by-products from Zimbabwe into Botswana has always been banned,' de Graaf said. 'This will be closely monitored and strictly enforced in close collaboration with other stakeholders.'

Government shall intensify border patrols and strengthen border inspection and disinfection points.  A 10-kilometre buffer zone will be demarcated and movement of cloven hoofed animals across the buffer zone allowed only with a permit. The 500-kilometre fence of the Botswana/Zimbabwe border will be maintained more regularly to prevent cross-border movements of buffaloes and cattle.

The councillors also learnt that the Botswana government is giving Zimbabwe all possible assistance to fight FMD in Zimbabwe. The minister asked the councillors to give his ministry the support it needs to ensure that farmers in the communal areas restrict the movement of their cattle by herding and kraaling them. Farmers are expected to keep their cattle as far away from the cordon fences as possible.

The fight against the spread of FMD, according to the minister, is not a matter of choice but a matter of survival. Botswana has been hit by FMD in the past, resulting in the closure of abattoirs in Francistown and Maun, as well as the export one in Lobatse, resulting in huge financial losses to the country, individual farmers and butcheries.Besides the disruption of many socio-economic activities, the unchecked spread of FMD could lead to 'loss of public confidence in the government's ability to control it', de Graaf said.

'Further, an FMD outbreak in the country would also have adverse effects on our on-going efforts to upgrade Zone 7 to an EU export zone. It is also likely to reverse the gains we are enjoying in Zone 3C (from Vakaranga to Maitengwe).