ISLAMABAD:Federal Minister for National Food and Security Syed Fakhar Imam on Thursday said that Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in animal was a menace that caused approximately US $ 693 million loss to economy in a single year in the country.
He said this while chairing a consultative workshop on “Pakistan Foot and Mouth Disease Control Program – A National Roadmap” organized by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in collaboration with the Ministry of National Food Security and Research here.
Of the 181 member countries of OIE 113 including Pakistan were affected to various degrees by FMD, he added.
The minister said that the remaining 68 countries were enjoying FMD free status but were under constant threat of an incursion from FMD endemic countries through international trade, said a press release.
“Due to which, they restricted trade from such countries or allow entry of only those products which have no risk of carrying FMD agent to their country,” he said.
The minister said that 75 percent of the costs attributed to FMD prevention and control were incurred by FMD affected countries.
Fakhar Imam said that FAO had implemented a number of programs on FMD in Pakistan funded by different donors like Italy, USA and Japan.
The minister said that under this program surveillance of FMD was carried out which indicated that O,A and asia-I strains of FMD were circulated in different parts of the country.
There are some areas where mix strains of FMD virus are detected.
He said that as many as 20,495 dairy farmers were trained in FMD prevention and more than 16 veterinary professionals were trained in FMD diagnosis, disease investigation and response.
The minister said that around 8-11 million doses of FMD vaccine were imported and used for ring vaccination around the epicentre of FMD outbreak.
The peri urban diaries were also included in the project and it was proved that FMD occurrence could be prevented by vaccinating animals twice a year with good quality vaccines, he said.
Furthermore, he said that it was time now to react to this very neglected subsector of agriculture which contributed to over 61% to agriculture value addition and more than 11% in overall GDP.
Fakhar Imam said that in the initial step, we needed to prevent occurrence of diseases especially the trade limiting diseases like FMD.
The minister said that development of the national FMD control program would be presented to the planning commission.
He said the program would include but not limited to establishment of FMD Free zone through mass vaccination; risk based Strategic Vaccination for FMD hotspots in rest of the country; developing and implementing animal identification system at national level to monitor the movement of animals across the country; FMD vaccine shall be produced locally to make the program cost effective in the longer run through own and or donor’s assistance.