17 Jul 2019

The Department of Veterinary Services (DVET) will continue to restrict movement of livestock from the newly declared Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) Free Zone seven to other zones, the Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Mr Fidelis Molao has said.

Mr Molao told resident during  kgotla meeting at Mmadinare recently that even though Zone Seven had been declared a green zone, government would continue monitoring movement of livestock to prevent possible recurrence of FMD.

He said government was concerned about cross border movement of livestock across the common border which was putting the area at a very high risk of FMD and the emerging disease of Peste des Petits

Ruminants which had been spreading from the North to the South of the continent. He said any livestock that crossed the border into Zimbabwe and South Africa would not be allowed to enter the country hence would be killed.

Mr Molao said Zimbabwe was still grappling with Foot and Mouth Disease while South Africa was struggling to prove their FMD free status to the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) as such livestock from those areas would be killed instantly.

Zambia on the other hand, he said had an FMD outbreak including the outbreak of lung disease in Namibia and therefore urged farmers to intensify taking care of their livestock by ensuring that it did not cross into such countries.

Mr Molao who is also MP for Shashe West implored farmers to always take into consideration measures put in place by government through the DVET whenever they wanted to access markets outside Zone Seven noting that products such as milk and meat from the zone could be transported to other areas.

He said farmers who wanted to move their livestock from Zone Seven to other green zones would not be allowed to do so as restriction of livestock movement still applied.

Farmers were requested to help government maintain the FMD free status by maintaining cordon fences because maintaining cordon fences was not the sole responsibility of government.

Mr Molao said the country was still faced with a major challenge of maintaining cordon fences citing elephants’ damage as well as acts of vandalism on the fence especially along the border.

However, he said the government would go an extra mile to vaccinate 55 000 livestock on the Zimbabwean side, 40km from the border to protect Zone Seven from possible FMD recurrence.

Mr Molao implored farmers to tag their animals for easy identification, adding that government would not compensate any tagless animal which would be killed.

He said government would compensate farmers with P700 for each cattle killed and P400 for small stock.

For his part the Department of Veterinary Services director, Dr Letlhogile Modisa said the department would intensify monitoring of the cordon fences by improving the efficiency of the picketers and border patrol.

He said the country was concerned by the outbreak of FMD in Zambia, urging those crossing the border into Zambia or from Zambia to adhere to all measures put in place to prevent any infections on the Botswana side.

Dr Modisa said movement of livestock into Zone Six and eight would not be permitted, adding that some farmers had the desire to move their cattle to the zones.

He said Zone Six and eight supplied the lucrative European Union market therefore restriction of livestock from other zones into Zone Seven still applied.

He urged farmers to take responsibility of their cattle and stop burdening veterinary officers with the responsibility of taking care of livestock.

Residents of Mmadinare thanked Mr Molao and his entourage for updating them on the FMD status of their zone.

However, they requested for the division of Zone Seven as some areas such as Mmadinare were not closer to the Zimbabwean border, adding that Bobonong and some Bobirwa villages were at a high risk compared to Mmadinare. ENDS