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Vhembe District cleared of foot and mouth disease

Cattle
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The foot and mouth disease outbreak has been contained but not over. That’s the word from Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Senzeni Zokwana. He paid a visit to one of the affected areas in Limpopo.

The outbreak has been a major setback for the agricultural sector with a ban on all beef exports. The export of red meat to most countries was banned.

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries says the Vhembe District in Limpopo has been cleared of the foot and mouth disease.

Efforts to contain the foot and mouth disease outbreak have been intense since its appearance early this year. No new infections have been reported for several weeks and although the roadblocks have been removed on Friday, other control measures are still in place.

Cattle are not allowed to be moved in and out of the area and inspections are continuing. Stakeholders have met at an agricultural college outside Thohoyandou where feedback was given.

Director of Animal Production in the department, Michael Modisane says they worked around the clock to contain the disease.

“We lost most of our international markets. It was quite severe. I think we won. We quarantined. We kept it in a closed area. We will continue to monitor,” says Modisane.

He adds: “The disease had spilled over into the free zone. We had to move in very fast. We had to quarantine all the farms that were affected and there were two vaccinations to ensure that we boost the initial immunity. Up to so far, we are 100% certain that the disease does not exist anymore. But what I want to emphasise more than anything is that the control measures, in terms of movement control, still stays.”

The international ban is still in place but eSwatini, Lesotho, Botswana and Namibia have reopened their imports again. Talks are underway with other countries, including China.

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