Joshua Nahamya,
Sheema District.
Sheema– Over 60 pigs have reportedly died in the Sheema district following
the outbreak of African swine fever in the western districts of Uganda.
According to Dr. Joseph Amanya, the District Veterinary Officer (DVO)
Sheema, African Swine Fever (ASF) has seriously paralyzed the district
since farmers continue reporting about the death of their pigs.
Amanya says that reports started to emerge in October
2021 that swine fever had attacked the neighboring districts of Rukiga
and Ntungamo.
And it is from this background that Sheema district and the Municipality
leadership issued a circular banning the slaughter and movement of
pigs in and out of already affected areas to prevent the suspected
disease from escalating in the area.
However, the situation has soured when farmers have started
registering the death of their pigs in the district within one month
of the suspected epidemic.
Speaking to Alex Boona a resident of Kitagata Sub County Sheema
District, confirmed that he is among the farmers who have already lost
all his 21 pigs from the farm.
“I suspect the disease to have come from Buyanja village in Bushenyi
district because its where it started from where I heard that there was a
farmer who lost about 60 pigs. Then in our village I heard that my
neighbour lost about 5 pigs and another one lost about three then later
it’s when all my 21 got infected and died” Boona said
With deep pain, Boona appealed to the government to get the drugs to
vaccinate the few remaining pigs in the district.
“I buried all the 21 pigs but I am requesting government to get us a drug
to vaccinate the few remaining pigs so that they also don’t die because
pig rearing is our main source of income in Kitagata Sub County” He said
Also, Eldard Asiimwe explained the loss he suffered after losing his three
pigs and over 36 piglets to African swine fever.
“I had three pigs one with 12 piglets and another had 10 piglets while
another one also had 10 piglets but within a day, they had all died. I was
shocked and I am now stuck because this was our income generating
activity which would give us money within a short time a reason, I am
suspecting poverty to hit this village hardly” says Asiimwe
Dr. Amanya, says the disease claiming pigs in Sheema District has been
confirmed to be African swine fever after receiving positive results from
Entebbe National Diagnostic laboratory.
“When we received information, we were able to pick samples which
were tested at the national laboratory in Entebbe national diagnostic
lab for livestock and we received a communication last week that the
results are positive for African swine fever but I am yet to get a full
report”. He said
Amanya also confirmed that it has so far killed over 60 pigs out of about
30,000 pigs were reared in the Sheema district.
“Currently we have about 30,000 pigs in Sheema district and in this
recent attack over 60 pigs have died but the good news is that for
Sheema it has not moved beyond the boundaries of one Sub County of
Kitagata because of the measures we put in place”. He reported
However, being a transboundary disease, Dr. Amanya says the
contagious ASF has traversed all the districts surrounding Sheema.
“We understand it could have started from Bushenyi but in less than one
month, it has spread to districts of Sheema, Mitoma and Buhweju
meaning that it respects no borders” he said
To farmers asking for vaccines, the DVO replied that African swine fever
being a virus disease has no treatment.
“It’s a viral disease, its non-treatable and there is no vaccine that has
been developed against African swine fever like any disease such as
lumpy skin, FMD and other diseases like PPR and it is highly contagious”
Amanya answered
It is a highly contagious disease and when it enters a village or a farm
most likely all the pigs will be affected and will all die because its
mortality can go up to 100%, he adds.
Way forward
Dr. Amanya advised piggery farmers to practice an all-in all-out system
instead of breeding to commercialize piglets which call for such
epidemic diseases.
“Ideally with the business of piggery, farmers are supposed to bring in
the pigs they can look after well and when time comes you slaughter at
once, clean your house, give a break and start afresh but this business
of keeping the pigs on the farm for two-three years to get more piglets
is a wrong business method and it is a reason why it’s complicated to
control such contagious diseases on farm”. He explained
“If farmers were doing the fattening, they would have slaughtered all the
pigs and a good thing swine fever is not zoonotic (the disease does not
cross to humans) so they would move ahead and slaughter all the pigs
and get money out of them but if you have such pigs which are about to
deliver then it complicates the epidemic control”. He added
Amanya also encouraged local farmers to start a modern piggery
farming to have complete meaningful farming.
“We need people who are certified breeders, then those who make
feeds, others doing fattening and then we get someone who buys and
slaughter. From there, the business would be complete and any
problem which comes in can be sorted; but now you find the farmer is
doing the fattening, is a nutritionist that’s why the piggery business
remains complicated and you find people doing it for a short term”. He
explained
“A pig is an animal-people thing where people think it can take care of
itself but in due course, you find most pigs are starved and others are
malnourished because they don’t get water and others are poorly
housed” Dr. Amnaya added
He also condemned the idea of people eating dead animals as they
fear to meet losses on the farm.
“Eating dead meat is not only for this case, it is something that we’ve
been fighting all the time but in veterinary public health any animal that
is dead is supposed to be buried so it shouldn’t be an exception for
African swine fever” the DVO said
“Most importantly for a disease like African swine fever where pigs are
fed on left overs, if you move meat of suspected case to the next village
you stand a risk of spreading it all over. This complicates the control a
reason as to why we ban the slaughtering and movement of any other
product in the district to save the rest of the herds” He added
Finally, Dr. Amanya wants the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and
Fisheries (MAAIF), to fast track the Animal Compensation Act to animals
lost to diseases such as FMD, African swine fever, or tick-borne diseases.
“As a department, there is no policy in place today that can allow
compensation. And I think those are some of the issues that the ministry
of animal husbandry should work on because in such a case we would
have slaughtered all the animals and disposed them off and
compensate the farmers to control the African swine fever there and
then” DVO explained
He insists that the compensation approach seems to be cheaper for the
government to control animal diseases as farmers would report in time
before the diseases escalate for bigger attention.
“When there is no compensation, some diseases would go unreported
which is dangerous and sometimes we can’t tell exactly when it started
but if there was a compensation policy, farmers would be able to report
immediately for effective disease management” Amanya emphasized
“The government would not even pay much in that case because you
would find some animals which have reached the market value, you
slaughter and put them in the market then pay for only those ones that
are affected by the disease”. He said
“We make a call to those who are responsible for making laws, to think
about such a law because if we had an enabling policy, we would have
destroyed every animal in the surrounding farms to control the disease
burden, the DVO insisted.
According to Amanya, the Sheema district has been battling with a number
of animal diseases right away from February 2020.
These include; Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), Foot and Mouth Disease
(FMD), African Swine Fever and lumpy skin disease.
“In February last year, we were battling Peste Petits Ruminants (the
disease in small ruminants that is goats and sheep) where many died,
from there FMD since April and when we were subsiding with FMD now
we go to African swine fever and also battling with lumpy skin disease in
cattle. But for all these diseases if we had a compensation policy where
we see disease and destroy a few animals it is not equivalent to the
cost of quarantine when farmers are not trading, their markets closed, and also the cost of treatment. It is a good policy where we call upon all
the policymakers to look into it because this is livelihood which hurts our
farmers once such a disease burden strikes”. Amanya explains.
