SADC appeal to control spread of foot-and -mouth

In a bid to control the spread of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the region, the Southern African Development Community has appealed for US $26 million. Fourteen million dollars is expected to go towards the emergency phase of the operation, while US $12 million would be directed towards recovery, the regional grouping said in statement. SADC noted that in the past most member states had been able to deal with the spread of transboundary animal diseases (TADS), but consecutive drought conditions between 2001 and 2002 had limited grazing areas, resulting in increased competition for grazing and watering points. "In addition, a chronic shortage of resources, and social changes - including land disputes - on top of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, have resulted in reduced capacity for coping with outbreaks of TADS," the statement said. The countries of major concern were Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. SADC acknowledged that individual countries had taken the responsibility of enforcing livestock movement control, noting that Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe were engaged in repairing their cordon fences to prevent interaction between buffalo and cattle, which are often the primary source of FMD outbreaks. Another concern was the impact of TADS on the national economies of the southern African countries. As a result of an outbreak of FMD in Botswana last year, the country lost more than US $37 million in export revenue. Zimbabwe, now under an export ban following FMD outbreaks since 2001, is losing around US $50 million per annum from its beef exports, SADC said. It is estimated that about 60 percent of the SADC population depends on agricultural livestock production.