The Ministry of Agriculture has started buying small stock for the purpose of restocking in North East where 20,000 goats were destroyed two months ago in a bid to contain Foot and Mouth Disease.
“We have started buying small stock for the purpose of restocking in the area where we destroyed small stock two months ago,” Principal Public Relations Officer in the Ministry Geofrey Pheko said.
The ministry is buying small stock from all parts of the country to restock the area. He could not say when they are going to start distributing small stock to farmers whose stock were destroyed.
“We do not have such details at the moment,” he said. The outbreak of Foot and Mouth amongst small stock came as a great shock to the nation as it was the first of its kind in the country. Foot and Mouth Disease has in the past struck cattle and not small stock.
Veterinary experts say that there have been similar out breaks in countries like Mozambique in the past. Meanwhile restocking of cattle which were killed for similar reason of controlling out breaks of foot and mouth is continuing in zone 7.
Recently MOA called on farmers from around the country to sell their cattle to the MOA. This happened after MOA had initially requested only farmers from the surrounding areas of zone 7 to sell cattle for restocking. The response was not satisfying leading to MOA to extend purchasing to the whole country.