By Barbra Namyalo
The Government says it is going to introduce an annual animal vaccination exercise to fight against diseases affecting livestock.
The revelations made by Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja were delivered by the Government’s Chief Whip Dennis Hamson Obua at the launch of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Budget for the financial year 2024/2025. The event was on Thursday in Kampala.
Obua stated that the President guided on the introduction of an annual animal vaccination exercise to enable all farmers to vaccinate their animals against diseases.
He emphasized the need to have an agriculture Insurance scheme which will help protect farmers who borrow loans for production.
Efforts to fight FMD
Foot and mouth disease (FMG) is one of the diseases greatly affecting farmers whose livestock is unvaccinated in different parts of the country.
According to the agriculture minister, Frank Tumwebaze, FMD is a very tricky disease which causes big losses so, the government should carry out joint vaccination programmes to eliminate it.
“The persistence of FMD has continued due to inadequate vaccine coverage and the farmers have not taken it this seriously. The international market does not buy meat from animals coming from FMD areas,” he says.
“We received meat orders to supply China but failed to certify the international market because of FMD. South Africans gave us orders of 50,000 tonnes of meat every month but we failed to supply, including Middle East and Asia markets,” Tumwebaze adds.
According to him, the promotion of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the fight against foot and mouth disease (FMD) along the borders will go a long way in tackling the problem.
Tumwebaze said PPPs help the private sector to create more job opportunities and carry out business with more professionals.
The FMD is a transboundary animal disease in East Africa causing economic losses to farmers and other stakeholders in the livestock industry, it occurs widely in both Uganda and Tanzania.
Tumwebaze said increased innovation and involvement of PPPs will bring more stakeholders and beneficiaries to have lasting solutions.
Tumwebaze urged Uganda and Tanzania to come up with recommendations to fight the diseases so that people increase rearing animals as an economic source.
He made the remarks during a training organised by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the Trace project on foot and mouth disease at Kabira Country Club in Kampala recently.
