About 90,000 head of cattle in the Eastern Cape have reportedly been vaccinated againstfoot-and-mouth disease(FMD). The province has more than three-million cattle so there is a long way to go. But at least it’s a start.
The government has sat on its hands since SA lost its FMD-free status in 2019. The World Organisation for Animal Health warned that to reclaim that status SA had to enforce official surveillance, implement strict movement controls and incorporate systematicvaccinationcoverage that could be documented and verified. Instead, the government waited until it became an epidemic affecting all provinces.
Last month, it finally declaredFMDa national disaster and dug deep to get the vaccination rollout going. But there has been little clarity on how the rollout will happen. Communal and subsistencefarmersin the Eastern Cape have already expressed fear that their cattle will not receive any attention or will be low on the government’s vaccination priority list.
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Indeed, their voices are often not heard because they are not organised or empowered in the way that big agriculture may be. While informal cattle, pig, sheep and goat farming may not contribute much to the country’s GDP, it is often a vital source of income and sustenance for communities. FMD is a highly contagious viral illness affecting cloven-hoofed animals. Animals in communal herds are often left to roam free, which contributes significantly to the spread of the disease Given that the Eastern Cape is predominantly rural and offers limited employment opportunities, the role of communal farming becomes even more important.
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