13 Dec 2017

Botswana Meat Commission and Department of Veterinary Services officials have been urged to update the council on the rehabilitation of cattle quarantines in an effort to control animal diseases.

Some councillors said the idea to revive cattle quarantines was brilliant, but complained about lack of consultation with key stakeholders.

They made the plea when responding to the North West District council chairperson’s speech recently.

The speech had said the renovation of the Makalamabedi Quarantine Camp was ongoing.

They argued that they were unable to give their electorates answers when they questioned them about the quarantine system.

They said it would be ideal for relevant authorities to engage them so that they could spread the message.

The quarantine system in Ngamiland has not been used since the restocking of animals.

The councillors also said they wished all quarantines in the district could be rehabilitated so that they could open lucrative markets for Ngamiland beef.

In his speech, council chairperson, Mr Duncan Enga said the department was currently conducting maintenance of the Makalamabedi quarantine.

He said about 25 500 hectares situated at Makalamabedi had 10 paddocks and that one was for residential and two were used for artificial insemination purposes.

He said only one paddock was further subdivided into four camps, and that it was ready to accept cattle while paddock four was being renovated, and that the works were still ongoing.

Mr Enga said budget constraints were a major challenge, noting that the cost of repairs stood at P8 million, excluding labour costs and fence destruction by elephants.

He also informed councillors that seven hippos were found dead, and that the first case was reported on October 13 and the last case on October 18, 2017 respectively.

The dead hippos, he said, were found floating in the Mohembo River from Namibia after reports of an anthrax outbreak in hippos in Namibia.

Following the reports, he said a team of wildlife and veterinary officers did investigations, and that a district wide vaccination was conducted. He added that  fortunately no cases were reported in livestock.

On the issue of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Botswana Animal Identification and Traceability System (BAITS), the chairperson reported that following the recent outbreak of FMD in the Sehithwa extension area, the department instituted movement restrictions, surveillance and vaccination as control measures in the district.

He said cattle were vaccinated twice to improve their immunity, and that tagging was also implemented and that 73 537 out of 82 917 cattle were brought for vaccination in the Sehithwa area.

In the rest of Ngamiland, he said 126 985 cattle were vaccinated out of the expected 135 649 while 35 432 were ear tagged during the two exercises.

Councillors were also informed that following a successful FMD and anthrax control measure, the movement of cattle in Zone 2D would be relaxed after three months of no signs of FMD.

“Movement of cattle is through electronic permits only. This is to help improve cattle identification and traceability and also improve market access of beef,” he said. ENDS