Africa-Press – Uganda. The veterinery department of Pakwach District is carrying out vaccination against Contagious Bovine Pleuro-pneumonia (CBPP), a disease that instantly kills goats and other animals.
The district veterinary officer, Dr Robert Canpara, told the Daily Monitor on Wednesday that they had received 40,000 dozes to vaccinate cattle and goats from the Agriculture ministry.
He said so far, 15,965 goats have been worked on in three sub-counties.
Venture
Goat rearing is a lucrative business due to its high demand on the market in the West Nile Sub-region and the neighbouring DR Congo.
The abundant market had lured Mr George Kermundu, a farmer in Panyimur Sub-county, into goat farming.
He had hoped to earn more income from the goat project that could earn him huge sums of money for livelihood sustainability.
But he was unlucky following the outbreak of the disease, which wiped out his 100 goats.
“I started rearing goats three years ago. I have 500 goats, but the sickness came and hit me badly and I lost more than 100 goats within a short time. Losing Shs4 million is so demoralising,” he said.
“With this sickness, you cannot see the sign, you just see a goat dying instantly. When you slaughter it, you find the lungs and pancreas are dark. But I have embarked on vaccination so that the remaining 400 can survive,” he added.
Mr Kermundu had hoped to sell his hybrid goats between Shs350,000 and Shs400,000.
Mr Paul Kinobe, another commercial farmer, said of 450 goats, he lost 168. Of 330 herd of cattle, he lost 10 to the diseases. “This sickness manifested because of the recent hybrid goats which were supplied in the district. They were already infected. We request the government to supply goats that are not infected,” he said.
The disease has also wiped out the farm of Ms Grace Nikumurotho of Panyango Sub-county. She says she lost 200 goats.
The disease
CBPP is an infectious and contagious respiratory disease of cattle that is listed as notifiable by the World Organisation for Animal Health.
Once animals inhaled the CBPP bacteria, it infects their lungs.
The disease was first reported in April in Pakwach. The most affected are five sub-counties of Alwi, Pakwach, Panyimur, panyimur Town Council, and Panyango. Since then, at least 76,000 goats and 36,000 herds of cattle were affected.
Intervention
In June this year, Pakwach local government imposed a quarantine in the five sub-counties to prevent the spread of the disease to other sub-counties and Murchison National Park.
The Resident District Commissioner, Mr Paul Eseru, said: “We have formed a task force and come up with strategies on how to ensure that more goats and cows are vaccinated. We also need to strengthen surveillance because it will give us an indication of when and how to manage the disease.”
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