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Who protects our livestock, and small farmers' rights?! FMD and LMD spread out in some Egyptian villages
State of panic and fear dominated villagers in some districts of Kafr El-sheikh; those districts are Desouk, Seidy Salem, and Matoubas, after dissemination of FMD and bovine tuberculosis. Numbers of LMD infections has been mounted to more than thirty cases during last month.
In addition, many villagers asserted, in complains to the centre, that LMD had infected their cattle, as diagnosed by veterans. Where, they confirmed that livestock passed away because of this disease.
Villagers assert, also, that veterinary directorate doesn't provide them with enough needed medicine, and villagers doesn't find any quarter that offers them compensations for the dead cattle, where road became a fertile environment for diseases sprawl because dead cattle are thrown down everywhere.
Villagers affirmed that cattle protection against FMD campaign did not take place since a year ago, whereas veterinary directorates refused protecting livestock against LMD because vaccines were not available, that lead to spread out of the disease among cattle and many cattle passed away, causing tremendous losses.
Villagers urged for compensations to be paid to them for their lost cattle, as no one from veterinary department moved to the villages to vaccinate livestock against this disease, in order to guarantee that disease would not pass to other cattle. Whereas medical departments ignored farmers complains, refused getting rid of dead animals, and left farmers throwing dead animals in water creeks and canals of the villages, that, consequently, might lead to hygienic, and environmental catastrophe in the county side, especially after the raise of numbers of infected and dead life stock.
It is worth mentioned that LMD is an epidemic disease that started settling in Egypt since 1988; the year of its appearance. The disease came to Egypt through a shipment of cows imported from Kenya. After appearance of the disease, a free annual program for protection was setup since 1990.
The disease caused, during period of first appearance, grave economic losses, where it started to appear again during the past few months, and lead to the death of hundreds of cows.
The increased sprinkle of LMD is caused by a virus dubbed "Camp Sky Disease" that infects cows. It appears as spores full of what looks like pus or purulence, in a chain shape, on the leather of the animal, which leads, ultimately, to its death.
Emergent protection measurements should be taken, in order to not waste our livestock, estimated by three millions cow, two and half millions buffalo, and nearly four millions sheep and goat. Those measurements should be taken as soon as possible because the disease is considered as an epidemic disease, since it spread out in a swift and scary way. Small farmers and feedlots are considered the most hurt sectors, as they lose their sole source of nourishment and income.
There are tens of thousands of peasant families in Egypt whose income depends only on raising cows; they are poor families who farm a piece of land doesn't exceed several carats. The families plant clover in those agricultural lands to feed one or two cows, so those cows, in their turn, be milked later, producing milk or any other dairy product, so that, they can secure minimum income that covers their basic needs. But if the families lose this cow; their only source of living, what shall they do? This problem gets worse when the family is headed by a woman because of husband absence for any reason. Such a family depends, mainly, on milk that cow produces; the family use the milk, produced by the cow, to produce other dairy derivatives, like; cheese, butter, cream, and margarine, and sell them to market. The money of those sold product are the only source of income that keeps that destitute family alive.
Moreover, many families have been granted loans in order to raise one or two cows, at maximum, as a project that brings income, in which families use part of the income to pay back loans. But, by dissemination of LMD, families will be required to vaccinate their cows, a choice which is relatively expensive, compared to their low incomes, so they will not be able to vaccinate their cattle due to money shortage; daily income of those families is so low, barely covering their basic needs. Consequently, families' cows will be exposed to infection and death. Also, families, themselves, will not be able to pay back their loans debts, which might lead to seizure and prison.
In addition to all the aforementioned, the dissemination of LMD in the few past, beside the sprawl of FMD, and the absence of responsible confrontation by the officials that can reflects the amount of dangers, as long with the health and economic catastrophe lead the farmers and the feedlots to abandon livestock projects, as it is considered a big risk, because government quarters show careless attitude; government did not confront these diseases, did not support rights of small farmers, thus, unemployment and releasing farmers from dairy and livestock farms increased.
Land Centre stresses that LMD is considered as a serious problem from many dimensions, so we must unite our efforts in order to confront this problem. So far, governmental exerted efforts, in order to limit the dissemination of the disease, and restore the trust of farmers and feed lots, did not reach the required level needed to protect our livestock, or stop the release and displacement millions of farmers, who depend on dairy and feedlot industry.
The centre submit farmers complaint to minister of agriculture, officials of veterinary quarantine, veterinary service department, officials of livestock production of ministry of agriculture, and the animal health research institution officials, requiring them to take urgent measurements to limit and curb the spread of the disease. It urges, also, the involvement of parties, and civil organizations in a media campaign that helps farmer understand the disease and all what relates to it; organizing convoys veterinary, and periodic immunization inspection; caring of the epidemic places, and the work of compulsory vaccination for healthy animals, after being separated from diseased ones; passing laws and regulations prevent transition of animal between governorates during periods of disease sprawl, as long as there is no veterinary inspection, in order to prevent the disease outbreak, so that, we can guarantee the production of healthy dairy and livestock production.
Ministry of agriculture should, also, compensate farmers whose livestock has died, in order to secure safe job opportunities and decent human life for them
For more information, please contact the Center