The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries, and Fisheries has reaffirmed a policy shift requiring farmers to pay for mandatory foot and mouth disease (FMD) vaccines via a government platform, moving away from the distribution of free vaccines.
Bright Rwamirama, the State Minister for Animal Industry, stated that this move aims to reduce costs and ensure farmers’ compliance, as FMD continues to devastate the livestock sector.
The current FMD outbreak began in October 2023. When the affected districts were put under quarantine, the government implemented several interventions, including vaccination campaigns, vaccine importation, and the establishment of national and district FMD task forces, among other measures.
To control the FMD surge, Uganda procured 900,000 doses, which were distributed to 23 districts. On the 23rd of this month, the government procured an additional three million doses of FMD vaccines from Egypt, of which 1.3 million doses have been distributed to 27 districts.
Rwamirama mentioned that the next phase of mass vaccination, commencing in July 2024, will require farmers to pay for vaccines twice a year, with the government covering the administration costs.
“The vaccination process will continue for the next three years, and animals will be vaccinated twice a year. However, farmers are hereby informed that they will be paying for the next vaccination process coming after this, and they need to prepare for it,” Rwamirama said.
Out of the 9.8 million doses of FMD vaccines procured by the Government of Uganda, 3.9 million have been delivered, and 2.18 million of these have been received by livestock farmers across 50 districts.
The government is using a risk-based vaccination strategy to achieve 80% herd immunity in hotspots and high-risk areas to prevent future outbreaks.
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