Foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in the north

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has confirmed that foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is killing one in three newborn lambs in northern Afghanistan. "On a national scale, an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease would debilitate cattle which plough wheat fields in the "breadbaskets" of western and northern Afghanistan and till soil in irrigated valleys, seriously threatening food security," an FAO spokesman, Etienne Careme, told IRIN from the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Monday. FMD spreads through contact between animals in places such as markets. The sick animals have sores on their feet and in their mouths so they cannot drag a plough. This condition keeps them out of action and can cause a food crisis in the families which own them. A joint team from the FAO and the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (MAAH) is currently carrying out investigations in the affected province of Baghlan, where the infection first broke out and then spread to Konduz, Takhar, Samangan and Balkh. "We don't have figures concerning the disease yet, but in the next few weeks, we along with MAAH will be given an update on statistics," Careme said. There are also cases of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR, also known as goat plague, a rinderpest-like disease of goats and sheep resulting in erosive stomatitis, enteritis, pneumonia and death) in small ruminants, especially sheep, with a mortality rate of up to 85 percent. There are cases of emterotoxaemia (overeating) and pasteurellosis (bacterial disease in small ruminants, animals that chew the half-digested food regurgitated from its rumen or first stomach). Most Afghan farming households depend on cattle - usually a single ox - to plough their wheat fields at planting time. A small flock of sheep or goats, perhaps six or seven, represents a household's savings and the offspring and animals' products are sold to raise cash in an emergency. Stopping the spread of the disease is crucial in order to save the livelihoods of millions of people who depend on cattle for their livelihoods. With flocks of up to 300 sheep, nomadic tribes, which depend on the animals for their skins, meat and wool, would be the hardest hit. "We have vaccines, but not enough, and it is a critical situation," Careme said. The FAO has appealed for US $6 million to deal with the crisis, of which $2 million is needed for an immediate project to bolster government monitoring of trans-boundary animal diseases at livestock markets, along borders and to respond to outbreaks. Strict measures are already in place in Europe to stop the spread of FMD, and herds of cattle with the disease have been slaughtered. In the UK, one of the hardest-hit countries, about seven million animals were killed in 2001, destroying thousands of farmers' livelihoods, and costing the nation about $14 billion. Meanwhile, the FAO and MAAH are actively continuing efforts to control a locust threat which has over the years devastated thousands of acres of land in the northern provinces. Although some action has already been taken to try and stop a locust infestation, much more needs top be done. Belgian military forces sprayed thousands of litres of pesticides against the most recent outbreak on 25 April around the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif. Locust infestations occur annually in northern Afghanistan, with the scale and intensity varying from year to year. The insects usually confine themselves to desert land between Konduz and Baghlan, but the recent drought prompted them to migrate into the northern provinces in search of food.