Cattle vaccination goes to Rwamagana, Kirehe

NYAGATARE – The campaign to vaccinate cattle against diseases which had recently hit the Eastern Province has been completed in Nyagatare, Kayonza and Gatsibo districts, an official has said. Dr. Augustin Zimulinda, the Rwanda Animal Resources Development Authority (RARDA) representative in the province, told The New Times yesterday that the vaccination has now been extended to the districts of Rwamagana, Kirehe and Ngoma. ‘We have so far completed the vaccination against Contagious Bovine Pleural Pneumonia (CBPP) in the three districts and the exercise is a success,’ he said. For the last three months, the province was hit by cattle diseases that included CBPP, commonly known as Ruhaha, Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) and Tick borne Disease (TBD). ‘We want to cover the whole province in order to rid livestock farmers of this challenge,’ he said. He noted that the exercise will be quick and easy in the rest of the provincial districts since they have very few cows. ‘Unlike in the previous districts, work in the remaining districts will be carried out within six to seven days in each district, because they have very few cows,’ he said. According to Dr. Zimulinda, RARDA plans to use radios to mobilize farmers to fight these diseases especially LSD. ‘Most of the farmers still rear local breeds. Only a few have exotic cows which are mostly affected by Lumpy Skin Disease. We are planning to use radios to mobilize farmers,’ he said. The disease spread in the province was attributed to illegal movement of cattle. Ends