Veterinary service working to get EU beef ban lifted

Zimbabwean Department of Veterinary Services Director Stuart Hargreaves told IRIN on Wednesday that despite a new outbreak of foot-and mouth disease on a farm near Nyamandlovu, about 400 km southwest of Harare in Matebeleland North Province, he was confident that the European Union (EU) ban on beef would soon be lifted. "This latest outbreak is very localised, we're putting a report together for the EU and hope to have an assessment team here by January," he said. Hargreaves said the outbreak was detected last week and that 12 cattle out of about 1,000 at the farm had been infected by the virus, forcing the department to vaccinate all the livestock. "We can show the EU that we are capable of controlling and containing these isolated outbreaks," he added. The latest foot-and-mouth outbreak followed similar outbreaks of the disease in some parts of Matebeleland North province and a farm in Masvingo Province in August this year. The outbreaks led to the suspension of Zimbabwean beef exports to the EU. Zimbabwe has an annual export quota of 9,100 mt of beef worth about US $36.4 million. Hargreaves said his department remained concerned about anything that led to disease outbreaks among cattle, including the destruction or removal of fencing that allowed cattle to mix with wild animals. Many cattle farmers in Zimbabwe have reported fencing problems associated with the government's chaotic and sometimes violent fast track land reform programme. "As a department we're working hard on education and information programmes at community level to show people how important it is to respect fencing to minimise disease outbreaks like this one," he said. Referring to a recent anthrax outbreak in Zhombe District in the Midlands province, Hargreaves said that the department had so far vaccinated 40,000 out of 170,000 cattle in an effort to contain the disease. "Don't read too much into this outbreak, it's fairly normal," he said. Anthrax broke out in Zhombe last week, killing at least one person and several livestock.