The official launch of vaccination against the sheep and goat plague has started in Bugendana Commune of Gitega Province, this 9 April. “Gitega, Kirundo and Mwaro provinces are the most affected areas and the vaccination will start by there,” said Déo Guide Rurema, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock when he was presenting the 2018 first quarterly achievements of his ministry, this 9 April. He says the campaign will even go on in other provinces. “We have realized that the disease has also affected other provinces. For this, over 2.4 million small ruminants throughout the country will be vaccinated in 22 days,” he says.
The vaccination campaign has started in Bugendana Commune, this 9 April
The Agriculture Minister says the campaign has delayed due to the problem of raising funds which lasted over two months. “Fortunately, we collected more than BIF 3 billion which is higher than the expected sum for the campaign,” he says.
Minister Rurema says the remaining amount will be used to buy small ruminants that will be firstly distributed to people in the affected areas and other provinces as well.
He also says the plague that affected small ruminants is a lesson for the country. The ministry plans to vaccinate all domestic animals by December 2018. “What happened to goats may also happen to cows or pigs. We must pay more attention,” he says.
In December 2017, about 8000 sheep and goat died following the sheep and goat plague that struck Burundi for the first time. Emergency measures were taken namely the ban on the movement of sheep and goats as well as their importation given that the disease came from Uganda.
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