Financial Gazette (Harare)
Zhean Gwaze
22 January 2004
Harare — ZIMBABWE risks a fresh outbreak of the dreaded foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) after the government failed to source enough foreign currency to buy the vaccines necessary to eradicate the disease.
Zimbabwe needs about one million doses of vaccines a month to completely wipe out the disease which threatens to reduce the country's cattle herd.
The vaccines are imported from neighbour-ing Botswana's Vaccine Institute.
The Department of Veterinary Services has of late indicated that a national vaccination programme was required to combat FMD, but this has not been done due to foreign currency constraints.
Zimbabwe has partially managed to contain the disease through paltry doses of vaccines sourced through appeals from international donor organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation, European Union and the Southern Africa Development Community.
An official in the farming sector this week told The Financial Gazette that another outbreak of FMD was looming, warned against uncontrolled movement of livestock because of a shortage of pasture precipitated by poor rainfall in most parts of the country.
"The government has failed to erect the 600 square kilometre fence in the areas most affected by FMD due to forex shortages and as a result, it should put measures to administer a national vaccination programme before the cattle herd is depleted," the official said.
The national herd is said to have dwindled from 5.1 million in 1998 to 250 000 this year due to drought, FMD, an acute shortage of stockfeed and destocking by most farmers because of the chaotic land reforms. FMD outbreaks have impacted negatively on Zimbabwe in recent years as thousands of cattle have died.
The country has stopped exporting beef to the European Union and regional countries because of persistent foot-and-mouth outbreaks and a decline in the national herd.
The country was still exporting limited beef to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The quantities could not be established by the time of going to press.
Zimbabwe had an annual export quota of 9 100 tonnes of beef to the EU which used to earn the country about US$2 billion annually.
The government is said to be trying to seal a deal with China to establish a FMD vaccination production plant facility locally and save the country billions in foreign currency.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2004 Financial Gazette. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
