By Vision Reporters
As the Government intensifies the fight against foot and mouth disease (FMD) countrywide, the Kapelebyong district veterinary department has vaccinated more than 9,600 head of cattle against the deadly disease.
The ongoing mass vaccination exercise, which kicked off in the district on July 3 this year, is targeting the vaccination of over 30,000 cattle by September 13.
Recently, Kapelebyong district received 30,000 doses of the FMD vaccine and a refrigerator from the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. The district has 106,000 head of cattle, according to the recent livestock census report.
However, statistics indicate that Kapelebyong sold 21,659 head of cattle during the last financial year (2023/2024).
The veterinary staff handling the mass vaccination of cattle are moving from parish to parish and have received great community reception, especially in Acowa and Akoromit sub-counties.
Raymond Ekita, the acting Kapelebyong district veterinary officer, revealed that farmers have not only responded positively to deliver their cattle for vaccination, but have also supported construction of temporary cattle crushes in the vaccination points.
Ekita acknowledged that without the support from the community, the veterinary teams would be struggling to use the available eight permanent functional crushes.
Despite registering success, Ekita confirmed to have faced defiance in Airiamet and Onapai villages in Akore parish after some people spread wrong propaganda that the vaccine was unsafe.
“This vaccine is very safe and it meets international standards. In case they continue to defy our appeal, we shall involve security to handle them. We don’t want their communities to be breeding grounds for FMD,” Ekita said.
John Okello, a farmer in Acowa sub-county, praised the veterinary staff for their commitment towards vaccinating their animals.
He added that the timely vaccination exercise has saved them from future economic losses.
Francis Akorikin, the Kapelebyong district chairperson, urged farmers to embrace the vaccination of their animals, since getting the vaccine is expensive.
Service charge
The agriculture Ministry permanent secretary, Maj. Gen. David Kasura Kyomukama, said the vaccination is completely free for now, but mentioned that they have a service charge of sh200 per cow.
This cost, he said, covers administrative expenses like transportation.
Kyomukama revealed that the FMD vaccine goes for about $2 (sh7,400), but emphasised that Government is not selling the vaccine for now.
However, he said the cabinet came up with the vaccine monetisation policy.
“We shall import the vaccinebut we shall recover the cost from farmers at about sh800 per cow. We have budgeted for the money, and we are in the process of procurement,” he said.
Kyomukama said there are 44 million vulnerable animals in Uganda, which include cows, sheep, pigs, goats and wild animals like buffalo.
Of the 44 million vulnerable animals in Uganda, the general said there are about 15.7 million cows, in addition to sheep and goats that the Government shall compulsorily vaccinate.
The long-lasting solution to FMD management is through developing a vaccine. To increase the availability of FMD vaccines in the country, agriculture minister Frank Tumwebaze told Parliament early this year that through the National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO), the vaccine development process was underway.
Long-lasting solution
Dr Justus Rutayisire, the FMD vaccine co-ordinator at NARO, said they were developing a vaccine, but it was still at laboratory level.
For the country to access and make use of it, he said this would happen at the end of the financial year 2025/2026. NARO requires sh80b toproduce FMD vaccines.
Foot and mouth disease limits Uganda’s ability to access major export markets, and her performance in the global export trade in livestock and livestock products will be negligible.
According to World Organisation for Animal Health, FMD is an impediment to trade because countries that have the disease get stigmatised.
Global, regional outlook
According to a 2022 study done by Tania Prinsloo, a lecturer in Informatics at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, FMD occurs in over 100countries worldwide, mainly in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America.
Over the past two years, there have been outbreaks in countries including Mongolia, Russia, India, Israel, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
In 2013, India had the worst outbreak in a decade, with over 64,000 animals being infected and 6,100 deaths. The main cause of the spread was because animal movements were not being effectively monitored.
To curb the spread, countries restrict the movement of livestock. However, this can be a huge blow to the economy.
National picture
On July 16, the fight against FMD received a boost of three million more doses of vaccines from Egypt, bringing the total number of doses delivered to six million. Like it was with the previous consignment delivered in May this year, the vaccines were received by the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, at Entebbe International Airport.
The FMD outbreak led to a quarantine in 32 districts across Uganda, causing significant distress in the cattle corridor. The affected districts include Luwero, Gomba, Isingiro, Kazo, Kiruhura and Sembabule.
To curb the spread of the disease, the agriculture ministry banned the movement of livestock and livestock products into, out of, or through these districts.
On May 27, animal industry state minister Bright Rwamirama handed over the first batch of the three million doses of FMD vaccines to 27 districts at the National Animal Diseases Diagnostic Epidemiology Centre in Entebbe.
Uganda’s total susceptible animal herd requires 44 million doses of FMD vaccines annually, necessitating a bi-annual vaccination programme costing $176m(sh649.9b) per year, according to the agriculture ministry.
