Foot and mouth disease threat ruins Easter in Buyende

The Buyende Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Maj (Rtd) Betty Otekat, has issued a warning on the consumption of meat and sale of cattle following an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD).

According to Maj (Rtd) Otekat, the district was free from Foot and Mouth Disease until March 17, when disease surveillance activities revealed that 10,350 cattle were at risk, including 104 cows in the eight sampled herds in Budiope West constituency.

“We conducted a disease surveillance activity to enable us to get alerts on disease and other animal-related events across the sub-counties in the district and from eight farms, 104 cows are sick,” she told a gathering at Iringa Township, Nkondo sub-county, Buyende District on Saturday.
She added: “So, be alert against those transporting, selling or slaughtering cows until the time it will be contained.”

She further called for enforcement of the quarantine restrictions, mobilisation, sensitisation, and provision of general information about the disease manifestation to avoid its spread.
The Kamuli municipality Production Officer, Mr Isaac Ibanda, said following the quarantine in Buyende and other districts, the municipality, which is a conduit of cattle from Buyende livestock markets, has heightened its supervision and monitoring of cows transported through it.

“We are aware of smuggling cows and its products and have stepped up monitoring and security along possible routes,” he said.
One of the affected farmers, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of being “witch-hunted”, said the RDC’s public revelation of the eight farmers with affected herds in public has “hit them hard”.

“There are other farmers with the same problem who are quietly selling their cows cheaply. Just as she read out our names at a public event, there were two trucks loading cows at Igwaya area destined for Kampala,” he said.
A butcher at Budhumbula in Kamuli admitted that people have changed tactics to circumvent the quarantine and now slaughter animals at night, carry the meat in sacks and on boda boda.

The Buyende district Fisheries Officer, Mr John Muwadi, observed that the quarantine has only “complicated” matters after dealing silverfish was restricted.
The decision by the government to regulate the catching of silverfish has pushed its price up in Busoga sub-region.
 
In a February 20 statement, the State Minister for Fisheries, Ms Hellen Adoa, banned the use of the hurry-up method used for catching silverfish in a bid to save the dwindling Nile Perch stock and promote responsible fishing practices among the fishing communities.
 
Mr Muwadi says unlike anthrax, which he said is a disease “for animals and humans”, Foot and Mouth Disease is transmitted by people.
 
“You know, people are not good at taking precautions and are resorting to underhand systems to enjoy both fish and meat, which is a big challenge; so, we need a lot of public awareness campaigns,” he noted.

Ms Fiona Naisanga, a resident of Buyende, says the quarantine has given husbands an excuse to dodge buying meat during the Easter season and sell family animals cheaply to make ends meet, all under the guise of quarantine.