Relief for farmers as ban on livestock movement is lifted

Farmers from the Eastern Province can now sell their animals without restriction after government lifted the ban it had imposed on livestock movement in response to an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever – a deadly and infectious cattle viral disease. The Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources said in a statement on July 30, that the quarantine enforcement was intended to prevent contact between livestock exposed to the infectious disease and those which were free from it. The ban had been imposed on June 9, 2018 on three districts – Ngoma, Kirehe, and Kayonza. Since May this year, the disease has killed 154 cows countrywide, Dr Solange Uwituze, the Deputy Director General of Animal Research and Technology Transfer at Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB) told The New Timeson Tuesday. READ ALSO: Rift Valley Fever disease now reported in Kamonyi District Efforts to contain the disease included successfully treating some 316,445 cows countrywide by spraying them with a locally made drug, ParmaPy Plus. The drug kills ticks, and flies, including mosquitoes responsible for transmitting Rift Valley Fever. Some 257,902 cows were vaccinated against the disease countrywide and 119,520 of them were from Ngoma, Kirehe, and Kayonza, Dr Uwituze said. Normally, during the dry season, some farmers sell cows to cope with the shortage of pasture. But, such arrangement was not possible because of the outbreak. “Some farmers could not sell their cows because of the disease, even during this dry spell when there is grass shortage in Eastern Province. Therefore, their cows’ health was at risk as they could not get enough feed,” said Gahiga Gashumba, the Chairman of Rwanda National Dairy Farmers’ Federation, welcoming the lifting of the ban on livestock movement. Talking about measures to avert the recurrence of the same RVF cases in Rwanda’s livestock, Dr Uwituze called upon farmers to “respect the official calendar for vaccination and spraying, observe general hygiene for animals, and treat sick cattle on time.” editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Relief for farmers as ban on livestock movement is lifted