Foot-and-mouth disease: Employ farm watches in livestock movement control to keep “clean” areas clean

Image: courtesy of Freedom Front Plus

With the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic wreaking havoc on livestock marketing, it is crucial to protect areas that are still free of the disease.

This can be achieved by ensuring that infected animals are not transported – something for which the legal framework exists, but the capacity to enforce it is lacking.

Foot-and-mouth disease is a viral disease, which means it can only spread via live carriers. So, it is essential to produce documentation proving that animals are free of the disease before they are transported.

While it is not possible to patrol all roads, provincial borders and auction pens are essential control points.

During a state of disaster – which is currently the case – it is reasonable to expect the police and provincial authorities to patrol the main roads. There are, however, numerous smaller roads serving only farming communities, which makes it easy to bypass control points. In these areas, the authorities should partner with farm watches.

These security structures already possess the necessary equipment and human resources to spot vehicles transporting cattle and to check documentation.

Collaboration with the local authorities is, however, critical to prevent people from taking the law into their own hands and creating a volatile situation in rural areas.

Auction pens pose a particular risk, justifying the implementation of similar controls. Sanitising vehicles should also form part of auctioneers’ responsibilities.  

Such measures will only buy some time; vaccination protocols should be implemented as soon as possible. So, it is of the utmost importance to activate all manufacturing and administration capacity – whether in state or private institutions.

The current crisis could have been prevented with targeted action. It is still possible – and absolutely essential – to limit its impact.