MBABANE – At least 10 cattle belonging to the Minister for Agriculture Mandla Tshawuka have tested positive for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in his cattle ranch at Mbola.
Notably, the minister is the one championing the fight against the scourge that has caused the death of some cattle, halted exports and threatened the whole country with a shortage of beef and pork.
A devastated Minister Tshawuka said he had to quarantine the cattle and put them under mandatory treatment and resuscitation.
The cattle are registered at Mbulu No. 62 Dip Tank at Madlangampisi. The development comes as the ministry embarked on an intense vaccination programme for all cattle in the four regions of the country.
Though sources alleged that some of Tshawuka’s cattle had died, the minister denied knowledge of the origin of such claims.
He insisted that his ranch had embarked on a robust programme to ensure that the infected cattle recover.
“Ten of my cattle were found to be infected and we quickly put them in quarantine.”
The source said the cattle displayed signs of fever and reluctance to graze. After intense inspection and tests, it was confirmed they had contracted the disease.
Last week, the Prime Minister, Russell Dlamini, announced that the disease had spread to the Manzini Region, after starting in Shiselweni and spreading to the Lubombo Region.
It could not be established if the discovery of the disease at Dvokolwako implies that it has reached parts of the Hhohho Region because Dvokolwako is the margin between the two regions. However, in between regions, ministry officials man roadblocks and compel motorists and travellers to sanitise the soles of their shoes from any germs spreading the disease.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Sydney Simelane could not respond to a question on whether the disease has now spread to all four regions, saying he was locked in meetings since 9am yesterday.
The ministry recently announced the arrival of 188 800 vaccine doses in the country and embarked on vaccination campaigns. It also announced international technical support aimed at curbing outbreaks in the most affected regions.
More than 45 000 cattle were vaccinated against the disease in the Shiselweni Region, while a total of 12 065 cattle have been vaccinated in the Lubombo Region in areas such as Malindza, Mpaka and surrounding areas
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Farmers now want compensation
MBABANE – Farmers want the foot-and-mouth disease declared a national disaster so they can be compensated for losses sustained as a result of the pandemic.
The farmers said they recorded losses, especially in the piggery industry, which is mostly for commercial purposes.
Farmers’ Union Chairman, Thulani Dlamini, said they would have to do an analysis to determine if the FMD pandemic has reached the threshold in which it can be declared a national disaster.
“From a layman’s point of view, we definitely need to start getting compensation for the damages incurred since the pandemic started. It certainly makes a lot of sense to us to have it declared a disaster,” he said.
He said the union’s observation is that the situation is moving from bad to worse.
He said when the FMD jumped to infect pigs it adversely affected the farmers’ financial muscle and threatened them with bankruptcy.
“You will recall that in the piggery business, everything is based on commercial returns and farmers make loans to support the business. If their stock is infested with the disease, it means they cannot sell and that cripples them. Many of them are in serious debt as a result,” he said. He said farmers would like to be involved in the value chain of government strategy to roll back the pandemic. He said government should not only involve veterinary assistants, but the farmers’ representatives and all farmers whose cattle have been threatened by the pandemic. “We have not had an opportunity where government engages us as farmers’ representatives and tells us how exactly it would like us to assist. We would like to be there from the planning stage until the execution.” He said government should not
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Critics: Taking too long to vaccinate 700k cattle
MBABANE – The Ministry of Agriculture was grossly criticised in its own social media page for allegedly being too slow to vaccinate cattle.
Followers of the ministry’s page expressed concern that it is taking too long to vaccinate just 700 000 cattle, which is the estimated number of cattle in the country.
“Nine solo nehlulwa ku vacinata tinkhomo letingu 700 000?” asked one.
Another one who responded said the ministry cannot because they do not have enough manpower as many graduate agriculturalists are sitting at home because there are no jobs.
“The Ministry of Health tries to hire nurses according to the year of completion; the Ministry of Education is busy building schools and hiring teachers yearly; but, the Ministry of Agriculture is failing to provide Eswatini with food security. Learning at the University of Eswatini Luyengo Campus is getting useless nje.”
*Full article available in our publication
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