ISLAMABAD: The government’s national programme for the control of foot and mouth disease (FMD) at a cost of Rs664 million covering seven-year period (2018-2024), is yet to be endorsed by the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

The programme is currently under consideration of the organisation, and it needs to be continuously followed up until mid of next year. The programme aims at improving food security and will increase the resilience livelihood of livestock farmers to animal disease threats.

The country’s meat exports are currently limited to Gulf and to expand into markets like China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Russia, it needs an OIE endorsed FMD control programme and FMD free zone compartments. This endorsement will expand meat export market to a number of countries.

Currently, the country is not among the 68 countries which are FMD free where vaccination is not practiced. Only six countries – China, India, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia and Thailand have the endorsed official control programme for FMD, according to the organisation.

The USAID-funded Agricultural Market Development (AMD) is supporting the government in getting the FMD control programme endorsed by OIE and the federating units in establishing their notified FMR free zones in order to enhance the scope of meat export markets. In this regard, the animal husbandry commissioner will need sufficient support to follow up the process of access to new markets in order to reap benefits of the project.

These efforts are expected to increase meat exports manifold, especially through entering into new markets. It will add pliability to meat processors and producers in their businesses and will also support in linking profit with the farming activity thus adding resilience of livelihood of livestock farmers in the country.

On livestock development, the ongoing US-Pakistan Partnership is being catered through “Creating New Frontiers in Agriculture” (CNFA) under its programme on FMD, which is supporting Pakistan’s commercial agriculture, particularly through improving the ability of the country’s agriculture and livestock sectors to meet both international and domestic demands.

The government is seriously eng­a­ged in prevention and control of FMD through its own resources and technical assistance and support from its development partners.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2019