Sembabule authorities declare quarantine over fresh FMD outbreak

Authorities in Sembabule District have declared a fresh ban on cattle movement and selling of their products in Mijwala Sub County, Sembabule District due to the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak in the area.

According to the Sembabule District Veterinary Officer, Dr Angello Ssali, the latest quarantine is aimed at containing the spread of FMD to other parts of the district.

“The district has restricted the movement and selling of livestock and its products in the affected area, but not in the whole district. We do not want to see it spreading to other areas,” he said.

Dr Ssali said they have already informed the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) about the fresh FMD outbreak and is soon dispatching a consignment of vaccines to take care of it.

“We shall carry out ring vaccination to contain the spread of the disease, but  available information from farmers on the four affected farms indicate that one of the farmers brought a bull from Kyemamba, a neighbouring village in Lyantonde District whose FMD was in incubation but has now caused all this mess,” he said.

FMD is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed or divided hooves animals.

Mr Moses Ninsiima, the chairperson Sembabule Livestock Farmers Association, faulted the government for always dispatching a few doses of vaccines which cannot serve all herds in the district.

“There are so many issues that are facilitating rampant outbreaks of FMD in Sembabule. Among others is laxity of farmers and veterinary authorities who continuously bring cattle from districts neighbouring Tanzania and mix them with local animals without a prior diagnosis,” he said.

He revealed that the latest outbreak in Mijwala Sub-County was brought by one of the farmers who got cows as bride price for her daughter from Buhunga, one of the villages in Isingiro District at Uganda –Tanzania border.

Mr Ninsiima suggested that Sembabule District being a host of multitudes of livestock farmers and having noticed that restricting cattle movements is impossible, the authorities should work with farmer’s local leadership to establish holding grounds at the village level for cattle coming from outside the district and government should provide enough vaccines for the entire district.

Sembabule District is among the cattle corridor districts that have suffered rampant outbreaks of FMD since 2018. Some of the sub-counties that have recorded successive outbreaks include; Mitima, Lugusulu Matete, Lwebitakuri, Lwemiyaga and Mijwala.

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