Foot and mouth disease outbreak leaves Anantnag farmers in distress

Srinagar, July 23: The outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in Kiram village in south Kashmir’s Anantnag village has left farmers in distress.
Basharat Chauhan a resident of Kasnad village said the FMD has affected animals in the village and the vaccination has not been done so far.
“Last year, the Animal Husbandry Department conducted the vaccination on time however this year they are yet to do it and the disease has affected animals. The vaccination exercise should have been conducted in May-June but it was not done,” he said. Chauhan, who is a tribal activist, said the disease has affected many villages like Panharm, Khudpora, Panad
“There should be on time vaccination. The population of animals is high and there is a shortage of staff which has further aggravated the problem,” he said.
Chauhan also said that veterinary centre Khiram has only one veterinary doctor who has been deployed to Yatra duty and there is shortage of manpower.
He said the veterinary doctor was deployed last month and no arrangement was made for the area. The farmers are in distress as Khiram village has around 50 FMD cases at present.
Isaq Ahmad, a farmer of Khiram said there are some 100 FMD cases and vaccination is yet to be completed owing to staff shortage.
“They are vaccinating animals after the outbreak of the disease and many animals are yet to receive vaccines. In previous years they would do the vaccination in May or June,” he said.
Isaq said that the Animal Husbandry Department should carry out the vaccination on an urgent basis to stop and spread the transmission of the disease among the animals.
“Last year also farmers faced heavy losses due to lumpy skin disease (LSD) as it had caused deaths among animals including cattle. Animals are a source of income generation for people. If a cattle dies we cannot afford to bring a new one,” he said.
Director Animal Husbandry Department Kashmir, Purnima Mittal said she is not aware about the FMD cases in Anantnag and assured that she will look into the matter and ensure that teams will visit there and vaccinate the animals.
She also said that the department aims for 100 percent vaccination against the FMD and has already started the vaccination campaign. “Along with the FMD, we will simultaneously also ensure vaccination of lumpy skin disease (LSD) as the outbreak of the disease was witnessed last year. And vaccinations will be completed by 31 August,” she said.
The director said there are 9.60 lakh animals in Kashmir that would be vaccinated and cattle, buffaloes will be covered under the vaccination drive.
“We have started the vaccination on a mission mode. This is the season and there may be chances of FMD. Timely vaccinations are a must to prevent disease outbreaks,” she said.