Ntungamo livestock owners count losses over quarantine

Following an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, the district authorities and the Ministry of Agriculture on October 28 imposed a quarantine on cattle, goats, sheep and their products such as milk, ghee, meat, beef and mutton.

Farmers, traders and consumers in Ntungamo District are feeling the effects of a quarantine on livestock and their products, which has now entered into the second month.

Following an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, the district authorities and the Ministry of Agriculture on October 28 imposed a quarantine on cattle, goats, sheep and their products such as milk, ghee, meat, beef and mutton.

Milk producers are registering heavy losses while dealers say their plants are about to shut down.

In a meeting on Thursday last week, the farmers demanded the reopening of the markets and asked the ministry to provide them vaccines.

“As dairy farmers, we depend on milk for income. We can’t sell milk or cows. We don’t know why selling milk can’t be allowed. I don’t think milk spreads the disease,” said Mr Polly Matsiko, the chairperson Ntungamo Dairy Farmers’ Cooperative Union.

Mr Matsiko said the union had been collecting more than 35,000 litres of milk daily, and paying farmers Shs520 per litre. He said farmers had lost close to Shs800 million since the quarantine was imposed.

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