January 19, 2007

UN to provide US$10.3 million to fight FMD in Zimbabwe
 

The UN has decided to donate US$10.3 million to Zimbabwe to fight foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a figure not enough unless the ruling ZANU-PF party government also decides to pitch in.

In 2001, the EU cancelled its 9,100 tonnes of beef quota, worth an annual US$38 million or about 4 percent of foreign currency earnings, owing to Zimbabwe's failure to control livestock diseases.

Veterinarians now want their government to pour in more money and intensify its efforts to eradicate cattle diseases, pointed out a local veterinarian.

The government's failure to address bovine diseases has reduced Zimbabwe's national herd from 1.4 million head of cattle in 2000 to about 250,000 at present according to an industry research.

An outbreak of FMD last year in Botswana forced the Lobatse and Francistown abattoirs to shut down and recall beef shipments en route to Europe, Reunion and South Africa. The losses to the beef industry were not disclosed, although the chief executive of the Botswana Meat Commission, Motshudi Raborokgwe, said at the time the outbreak threatened the survival of the industry.

There has been a consistent reduction in Botswana's national herd since the 1990s.

Zimbabwe's veterinary services department said it would use the FAO donation to import vaccines and dipping chemicals, to be distributed mainly in southern Zimbabwe, where new cases of FMD and anthrax have been reported.

Departmental spokesperson Stuart Hargreaves said the acute shortage of foreign exchange had hamstrung the government's efforts to provide communities and farmers with the necessary livestock vaccines, which was allowing outbreaks of bovine diseases. According to department officials, cattle in various parts of the country had gone for more than six months without being vaccinated or dipped.

According to reports in the state-controlled "Herald" newspaper, in the last two months more than 200 cattle had died from anthrax in Masvingo Province, bordering Mozambique, in the southeast of the country. The Cattle Producers Association (CPA) said uncontrolled movements of cattle remained the major cause of FMD and anthrax outbreaks.