Agriculture Minister Calle Schlettwein has appealed to the public to stop bringing animals into Namibia from northern neighbouring countries in order to avoid possible introduction of new Foot and Mouth Disease variants, which have been detected in some neighbouring countries.
Schlettwein made the call in Parliament on Thursday, where he noted that field and laboratory investigations have confirmed that the FMD outbreak that started in May 2021 was caused by FMD virus serotype O, introduced to Namibia from Zambia through illegal cross-border movement of livestock between the Zambezi Region and Zambia.
He said the variant is resistant to the vaccine that was available in Namibia at the time. It has to date infected about 5 000 cattle and killed about 150 cattle, mostly in Zambezi.
The ministry has now received 340 000 doses of FMD serotype O vaccine, procured at a cost of N.dollars 6 million and vaccination has started, targeting a cattle population of 170 000 in the Zambezi Region.
“Zambia on the other hand, has however reported an ongoing outbreak of another FMD variant, serotype A, in areas next to the border with Namibia and Angola,” the minister said.
If introduced in Namibia, the variant will hamper the ministry’s efforts and the minister thus called on especially farmers and livestock traders to refrain from illegal movement of animals and potentially infected FMD materials to avoid further animal disease outbreaks.
“Disease outbreaks have the potential to severely affect and paralyse the economic activities of a country and the livelihoods of farmers and their dependents, as well as food security at national and household level. FMD outbreaks also have diverse negative effects on trade in animals and animal products as many countries in the world that are free from FMD will not accept meat from an infected country or zone,” Schlettwein warned.
He further requested the Namibian Police to support the ministry by continuing to conduct patrols along the border to prevent illegal cross-border movement of livestock.
“I would like to appeal to the governors of the Zambezi, Kavango East, Kavango West, Ohangwena, Oshikoto and Omusati regions, as well as the farmers’ unions and other relevant stakeholders, to assist us in informing farmers in their respective regions to refrain from illegal cross-border movements of animals,” the minister said.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
