Tapuwa Mashangwa Agriculture Column
FOOT and mouth disease (FMD) is endemic in almost all developing countries.

The seven different FMD serotypes circulate within regional viral pools with periodic incursions into virus free developed countries.

Its effects are less manageable in developing countries due to financial constraints and poor FMD prevention and outbreak management policies and programmes.

Once there is an outbreak of FMD, a thriving or developing agricultural sector will suffer direct and indirect losses that include: reduced milk production, affecting both the humans and calves that depend on it (this can account for 33 percent of losses in endemic settings); reduced livestock growth, mortality in young stock, typically, reported to be between 2-5 percent; loss of traction power where draught animals are used (if this occurs during harvest the effects can be particularly severe); abortion: the cost of a single abortion is high as the farmer will have to pay to keep the cow without it producing anything for another year or more or cull the animal.

FMD causes problems with fertility. The most obvious are the abortion losses explained above but there are longer lasting impacts of this loss of both foetus and a reduced probability of conception (these both translate into the need to have a greater proportion of breeding animals in a population implying that for every kilo of meat or milk produced there is an additional fixed cost to cover more breeding stock); the cost of control measures carried out by the state veterinary services, such as vaccination, outbreak control and sometimes culling and compensation are borne by the tax payer.

Some national FMD vaccination programmes vaccinate all bovines three times a year and all sheep and goats once a year.

This limits resources available to combat other diseases. In endemic settings, significant amounts are spent on privately funded vaccination and control.

In some areas wildlife are kept out of FMD free zones with extensive fencing at great financial cost not to mention the impact this restriction has on wildlife.

Market losses include: limited livestock trade; those affected by FMD receive lower prices for their stock; those wishing to purchase animals from FMD free herds face a restricted supply; countries infected with FMD cannot trade live animals with FMD free countries.

Typically the countries with the best meat prices are FMD free.

The trade of livestock products is also restricted, if regular outbreaks occur only processed, tinned products can be exported to free countries.

If FMD is effectively controlled with vaccination by a competent veterinary services able to detect outbreaks then deboned meat can be exported, trade of fruit and vegetables can also be affected by FMD status.

The FMD status of nations that a country trades with also affects a country’s ability to trade with FMD free countries irrespective of its own status; lack of access to lucrative markets restricts the development of commercial farming, consequently employment and tax revenue from this area is limited by FMD status.

Investment in the livestock sector is limited if there is a perceived risk that FMD may occur; livestock and livestock products cannot be imported from FMD infected countries.

This limits supply. Although it is good for domestic producers, it limits choice and leads to increased market prices for consumers.

FMD causes high morbidity and low mortality although high mortality of young stock does occur.

Clinical signs are generally more severe in temperate breeds associated with intensive farming particularly in immunologically naive populations.

The disease affects all the major non-avian livestock species, with cattle being the most susceptible and pigs the best amplifier of virus.

Infection in wildlife can further complicate control efforts. It takes only three to five days before a newly infected animal can spread the infection to other animals, with each case being able to infect many other animals.

It is the most infectious human or animal disease agent known, infected cows have been estimated to be able to infect over 70 other cattle in a susceptible herd.

These properties allow the disease to spread with great speed. The importance of trade, both legal and illegal, in the spread of the disease implies that any FMD control strategy must have policies and actions to limit risks of FMD spread from an outbreak and the introduction to and from neighbouring countries and trading partners.

These movement controls for FMD management have an economic impact of limiting trade that may be local, national and international in its reach.

The most extreme and costly impacts are the lack of access to lucrative international markets for countries where FMD is not controlled.

The cost of preventing an outbreak of FMD is lower than that involved in the posterior management of an outbreak of the disease.

l The writer is Engineer Tapuwa Justice Mashangwa, a young entrepreneur based in Bulawayo, Founder and CEO of Emerald Agribusiness Consultancy.

He can be contacted on +263 739 096 418 and email: [email protected]