Foot-and- mouth disease broke out in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State on 11 June and has caused acute difficulties for paddy farmers in the areas, said Khadir, a farmer from Maungdaw Town.
He said that now that the rainy season has started it is essential for paddy farmers to plough their paddy fields so that they can plant their rice in time, but the farmers have been facing difficulties ploughing as their cattle are suffering from foot-and-mouth-disease.
The Maungdaw Township farmers are totally dependent on their cattle as they have no tractors. But, in Natala Villages (model Buddhist villages set up by the Ministry of Border Affairs) the government has provided some tractors, said Samir,a local villager.
A former school teacher from Maungdaw South said that the villagers are still hoping that the government will help them to get treatment for their cattle. But, until now, no veterinarians have come to the area. He said that they should come to carry out surveys of the area and collect samples from animals to determine what strain of foot-and-mouth it is and whether it is a seasonal outbreak or whether it has come from abroad.
A farmer from Maung Nama Village has also sent a request to the relevant authorities asking them to send a team of veterinarians to the village to treat the cattle.
Foot-and-mouth is a livestock disease caused by a virus called a picornavirus which is highly contagious and spread by droplets in the animals’ breath, through contact with contaminated farming equipment, vehicles, clothing, or feed, and by domestic and wild predators.
To stop it from spreading to other areas, villagers are prohibiting people from moving their cattle and informing people not to eat meat from animals that have died, said a veterinarian from Maungdaw Town.
Jamal, a villager said: “We must separate the sick animals to control the spread of the disease. The outbreak occurred a week ago in Maungdaw Township, but has not killed any cattle or goats.”
He also said that the families and villagers in Maungdaw Township do not feed their cattle on farms but let them graze naturally.
Generally, in Burma foot-and-mouth outbreaks are one of three types: Serotype O, Serotype Asia 1 and Serotype A.
In 2010 there was an outbreak of Serotype A in Arakan State, close to the border with Bangladesh.
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
