15 Oct 2023

Botswana Vaccines Institute (BVI) in partnership with Boehringer-Ingelheim (BI) has launched a long acting Topline Dip aimed at controlling bovine-dermatophilosis disease commonly known as senkobo in North West District.

Senkobo is a common disease for livestock and wild animals in the Chobe and neighbouring northern located countries. The disease appeared in the Okavango Delta in 2015 coinciding with  the appearance of the bont tick (Amblyoma spp), previously unknown in the region.

Launching the new dip at Boro crush on Friday, Minister of Agriculture, Mr Fidelis Molao said Botswana remained grateful for the cooperation that the BVI had with BI as they were making strides in the research and development of vaccines for Botswana and the rest of the continent for disease control.

He appreciated BVI and its technical partner BI for stepping in to amplify government awareness efforts, noting that livestock disease outbreaks remained a challenge and required concerted efforts to control.

 The dip, he said would be a game changer in the control of ticks and ultimately senkobo because of the long acting, residual action of the dip.

“I do have to caution that this dip will be strictly controlled and its use will be limited to the control of senkobo under the supervision of Department of Veterinary Services. This is due to the long withdrawal period of three months of the dip,” he added.

Mr Molao said farmers would be advised to indicate which animals they intended to sell for slaughter so that alternative dips with shorter withdrawals were used for such animals.

He aid Botswana had not been spared the effects of climate change. Erratic and unpredictable weather patterns, outbreaks of plants and animal diseases, he said threatened the livelihoods and the economy of Batswana, adding that senkobo was reported to have killed over 4 000 animals in the district in the past year alone.

“This disease causes severe animal suffering and if untreated, can cause mortalities and serious economic losses, but it is easily treatable by antibiotics and even more easily preventable by removing predisposing factors such as dipping of livestock,” he said.

In the Chobe region, where senkobo was endemic, Mr Molao revealed that government support was limited to extension messaging on application of dips to control tick infestation and treat infected animals.

In the Okavango region, the condition, he said had been spreading due to lack of sustained control effort, explaining that it could be due to inadequate extension messaging and education of farmers.

Some farmers, he said, had been under-dosing the dips and antibiotics or failing to dip frequently enough to suppress tick infestation and as a result, a large number of livestock had died.

Mr Molao called on farmers to ensure absolute commitment to sustain dipping and be on the look out for animals for infestation and early appearance of the disease.

The government, he said had decided to assist farmers with free acaricides (dips) and antibiotics treatment as a short term response to control the outbreak.

Mr Molao encouraged farmers to organise themselves into syndicates or unions to establish dip tanks at strategic places, saying they could take advantage of programmes such as Livestock Management and Infrastructure Development to construct dip tanks.

Kgosi Motswagole Mokgwathi of Boro appealed to government to consider compensating farmers as senkobo disease had impoverished many through loss of  livestock.

Life, he said had become unbearable for many families as livestock farming was the main source.

Some, he said owned over 300 animals, but were left with less than 20 while some were empty handed.

“I am a victim as I have already lost over 60 animals and I urge government to consider compensating us because disease outbreak is a natural disaster,” he added. ENDS