The agriculture ministry announced Wednesday (May 19) that all cows and pigs will be slaughtered next week within a 10-kilometre radius of the areas in Miyazaki Prefecture hit by foot-and-mouth disease.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu said the ministry will do everything possible to prevent the spread of the disease, which has dealt a serious blow to Miyazaki's farm industry.

The 205,000 cows and pigs targeted will be vaccinated before they are slaughtered, ministry officials said.

The areas subject to the slaughter involve four towns and their surrounding areas, including the town of Kawaminami. The government was making arrangements to pay farmers JPY600,000 (US$6,539) per cow and JPY40,000 (US$436) per pig.

Unless further infections are found three weeks after the mass slaughter, restrictions on moving livestock will be lifted, Akamatsu said, adding he hopes the situation will be back to normal then.

On Tuesday, the ministry's expert panel on tackling the foot-and-mouth outbreak advised the government to consider using vaccines because preventing the spread by just slaughtering livestock appeared to be too late.

To contain the infection, the ministry has said it will be necessary to slaughter healthy cows and pigs in the area where the prefecture bans farmers from moving their livestock.

Vaccines can control the symptoms and delay the infection's spread, but don't completely prevent livestock from contracting the disease.

"It is important to take swift, vigorous measures to prevent the spread of the infection," Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said, denying the government or the prefecture took inadequate action.