MANZINI – Livestock farmers and butchery owners are calling upon government to roll out foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccinations across the country to stop the rapid virus.
The concerned stakeholders voiced this demand yesterday during a meeting held at the Liberty Centre in Manzini.
The livestock farmers and butchery owners’ task team are advocating for community-led solutions to the crisis. This follows reports that the Minister for Agriculture, Mandla Tshawuka, has classified the FMD outbreak as reaching a crisis level. Currently, only the Hhohho Region remains free of FMD cases, while the other three regions are experiencing surges.
In response to the outbreak of the disease, government has injected E40 million into efforts to combat it. Some of the measures that have been implemented so far are FMD checkpoints and the restriction of livestock movements.
Tisuka TakaNgwane Agriculture Manager, Dambuza Ngomane, stated that the situation has spiralled out of control. He argued that the country needs to budget to vaccinate all livestock, mainly cattle in the country to contain the disease and subsequently end it. He suggested that after vaccinating the cattle, the country could observe a window period while assessing the situation.
On the same note, one of the stakeholders, Andzile Gule, said his understanding of vaccines is that when they vaccinate an animal, they put in a certain sickness into it so that it can become immune against a certain disease. He clarified that the vaccine does not cure the FMD, but makes the cattle immune to it.
He said the safe and more efficient way to contain and end FMD is for government to get vaccines for the cattle even in areas that are not classified as red zones, so that it can build immunity against the disease. He said farmers and businesses will be blacklisted for failing to service their loans. This leaves them without an option, but to sell meat through the black market to meet financial obligations.
He also suggested that in the meantime that government should allow people in the same red zones to sell cattle to each other.
Some of the livestock farmers and butchery owners said they fear that the situation might get worse next year. They also suggested that government must vaccinate all cattle in the country, even in areas that have not yet been affected by FMD.
While acknowledging that budget constraints might slow the rollout, they suggested that cattle owners could contribute a certain amount to help fund a national vaccination campaign. In fact, they said a viable proposal is that government should buy the vaccine and then sell it to the livestock farmers at a subsidised price.
They also lamented the lack of unity in fighting the disease, noting that key stakeholders are currently pointing fingers at one another. However, they said they remain hopeful for a breakthrough and are awaiting answers from the ministry regarding the submissions made during the meeting.
One of them, Jabulile Matsenjwa, who also operates a feedlot, shared the same sentiments. She said the only answer is rolling out a nationwide vaccination. She questioned why the ministry is only vaccinating cattle in affected areas. She argued that it should also vaccinate cattle even in areas that are not currently affected in order to prevent the disease from spreading.
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Information blackout causes ‘chaos’ at ministry
MANZINI – There is an alleged lack of information sharing within the Ministry of Agriculture and the concerned stakeholders refer to it as ‘chaos’ as bomadibhane (veterinary assistance) are usually kept in the dark.
According to the concerned stakeholders, bomadibhane are usually blank on developments or decisions taken by the ministry, yet they are on the ground – they are supposed to be the critical personnel in the fight against FMD.
They claimed that sometimes, when they approach vet assistants on the ground, they find that they are unaware of the latest developments and as farmers, they have to wait for them to call either the ministry, mainly the office of the principal secretary or regional veterinary officers to confirm information that has already reached other stakeholders. They added that this mirrors a farmer’s complaint about critical decisions not being shared with the police, leading to challenges on the road. On another note, another stakeholder said his concern is that the very same people who would assist them are unsure about what is happening and what might happen in the not-so-distant future. He said he spoke to one veterinary trainee a few days ago, who indicated that by December, movement of cattle will be open in the Lubombo and Shiselweni regions. However, he said few days later, the trainee called to say there might be a national shutdown due to a new variant discovered at Malindza. He also raised concerns that government does not consult or liaise with affected stakeholders, unlike its approach during the COVID-19 outbreak. He mentioned that not long ago, he got a memorandum which was circulated within the ministry at that time and the person who shared it with him, stated that it was yet to be officially made public by the minister.
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Mass FMD vaccination will cost E62m – minister
BY SABELO MAJOLA
MBABANE – Mass vaccination for foot-and-mouth (FMD) will cost the country at least E62 million, as revealed by Minister for Agriculture, Mandla Tshawuka.
The minister made this announcement during a press conference intended to give an update on FMD. Tshawuka said the country has over 600 000 cattle and slightly over 90 000 have been vaccinated and that leaves over half a million unvaccinated cattle. He noted the country has already spent E26 million in vaccination programmes, but they have not yet yielded the desired results.
He said for a mass vaccination, it would need E42 million to administer the vaccinations and an extra E20 million to operationalise it.
He revealed that South Africa has concluded to conduct a mass vaccination to control the spread of FMD and stated that the ministry was still weighing that option, as it entails presenting the idea to Cabinet and then request for funding.
He further stated that another option for the country would be to implement a physical barrier along the Hhohho Region to prevent any chance of the disease coming to that boundary as it remained the only one that is safe and free from FMD.
“When the disease broke out, we introduced checkpoints to try and contain it, but somehow, it did spread to other parts of the country, hence that has not proved effective. We have the option to protect the zone, where the disease has not reached by putting up physical barriers and that entails building tents and having people guard the zone,” he said.
It should be mentioned that the minister has also announced that the sale of cattle for slaughter has been reopened, with farmers now permitted to sell livestock strictly to recognised abattoirs for beef trade. The minister said the decision was taken after careful consideration of the livelihoods of emaSwati, many of whom depend on cattle trading as a primary source of income.
He noted that the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) had severely affected farmers, resulting in increased cattle deaths while movement restrictions prevented the sale of animals.
Tshawuka said farmers are now allowed to sell cattle exclusively for slaughter at the nearest recognised abattoirs, where the process will be conducted under the supervision of qualified inspectors. He explained that when slaughtering is carried out under controlled conditions, the meat is certified disease-free, allowing it to be transported from red zones to green zones for sale.
*Full article available in our publication
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