OPUWO, 25 AUG (NAMPA) Agribank has encouraged farmers to implement and adhere to all animal health and trade regulations and protocols should they want to access and maintain markets to trade Namibian beef.
The bank’s livestock technical adviser, Erastus Ngaruka, said in a media statement on Monday that it was important that every farmer developed and used an animal health programme (commonly known as a vaccination calendar).
He said there were certain aspects that farmers needed to consider when developing their programmes, such as the prevalence of diseases in their farming environment and the country at large. These include notifiable diseases that are by law required to be controlled regularly through annual vaccinations in Namibia.
They are anthrax, brucellosis and foot and mouth disease amongst others. These diseases have economic or trade implications, hence the export markets strictly require meat products to come from areas that are free of such diseases.
Ngaruka said there were also other diseases that affected production and needed farmers’ attention such as botulism, black quarter, pulpy kidney and pasteurellosis. Another animal health practice that should be included in the programme was the control of parasites, both internal such as worms and flukes, and external such as ticks, mites and fleas (parasites).
“This is imperative because parasites can cause deadly illnesses in livestock while some also affect meat quality, resulting in economic losses,” he said. “An example is beef measles in carcasses caused by a tapeworm that can live in the human intestines. This tapeworm contaminates the environment through human faeces. Therefore, it is also important to practise hygiene on the farms by building ablution facilities to prevent such contaminations,” he said.
“In order to retain our consumers’ confidence in our livestock and their by-products, every farmer should adhere to and support the efforts of the Namibian beef industry. Coordinated awareness creation and provision of training to farmers and all stakeholders should be a priority,” he added.
