Concerns about Foot and Mouth Disease
TAU SA is very concerned about the foot and mouth disease eruption in KwaZulu-Natal . "At TAU SA's last General Council meeting, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Pieter Mulder, expressed his concern about the apparent lack of expertise to control the distribution of the disease. It appears that his concern was not unfounded, and currently we are even more worried," says TAU SA's President, Mr. Ben Marais.
From information TAU SA reliably obtained, it appears that the R25 million allocated to reduce foot and mouth disease is not yet available, or is not being utilized up to now. Trading of animals continues and no effective roadblocks have been set in motion to enforce the banning of transportation of animals. So far known only one farm has been quarantined by the state veterinarian. The foot and mouth disease control line is not maintained. Infected animals have been moved from Vryheid to Gauteng and there is danger that more areas can soon be affected.
Furthermore, TAU SA obtained information that results of tests done in England showed that this a variant of Foot and Mouth Disease for which there are no clinical symptoms available.
"We want to state it very clear that any losses suffered by farmers due to the slow and clumsy handling of the situation, will be for the account of government. We demand that vaccinations will start today and not only next week. We demand that the ban on transporting cattle will be enforced. We also demand that this disease will be handled urgently so that farmers can continue to send cattle to the markets with a minimum loss of income. Immediate attention should be given to the safety networks for cattle theft, to prevent that infected cattle which may have been stolen are taken away on other routes than the known road network. The time for meetings on the situation has now ended.
The time for urgent action has come," said Mr Marais.
Statement issued by TAU SA, March 25 2011
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