Vaccination for cattle against foot-and-mouth

The Department of Veterinary Services has begun vaccinating cattle against the foot-and-mouth disease, the official ‘Herald’ newspaper reported on Monday. Department director Stuart Hargreaves was quoted as saying that at least 450,000 cattle, which had been quarantined, would have to be vaccinated and then slaughtered in December for domestic consumption. He also said that the anticipated beef shortage would not reach critical levels despite the outbreak of the disease. Cattle from non-quarantined areas were allowed to be slaughtered at registered abattoirs where there were meat inspection services, he said. The foot-and-mouth disease broke out in southern parts of the country in August. Zimbabwe exports just over 9,000 mt of beef to the European Union annually. It also exports beef to Far East and other African countries. Meanwhile, in a separate development, pro-government militants set thousands of hectares (acres) of white-owned farmland ablaze in Zimbabwe in the past week, as black labourers were driven off the land, reports said at the weekend. A Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) statement was quoted as saying that fires set by farm occupiers have been spreading throughout the country. It said that among the hardest-hit areas was the southern province of Masvingo. “There is an alarming increase of veld fires in the area, and illegal occupiers are causing malicious damage to the environment,” the statement said. The CFU said farmers reported fires, sometimes burning across entire farms, across Zimbabwe, but especially on cattle land. Last week, the CFU said that at least 2,500 labourers and their families - an estimated 12,500 people - had been displaced in the Hwedza farming district after illegal occupiers ordered work stoppages on 22 farms.