By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK
Three high-ranking officials in the agricultural industry will this week fly over the Namibia-Botswana border to inspect the fence between the two countries.
Agriculture, Water and Forestry Minister,
Dr Nickey Iyambo, and the presidents of the Namibia Agricultural Union, Raimar von Hase, and Namibia National Farmers Union, Pinthile Davids, will on Wednesday fly over the fence to check for any damages.
According to the NAU newsletter, the inspection will start from the southern point of Aminuis up to Kavango.
Livestock Producers Organisation chairman, Ryno van der Merwe, wrote to the minister two weeks ago to raise the producers’ concerns about the condition of the fence.
Botswana has been hit by foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks at Tsholalamoro and Kgomotshwana in the Sehitwa area as well as Habu extension, where the disease was confirmed in October last.
Following this, the movement of cloven-hoofed livestock and wildlife and products such as milk, meat, skin and trophies as well as wood into and out of Zone 2 were banned.
The NAU last week appealed to all farmers to adhere to control measures put in place about the movement of animals and to report all suspicious livestock movement to their nearest veterinary office.
Signs of foot-and-mouth disease in cattle include dripping saliva and smacking lips, shivering, tender and sore feet, reduced milk yield, sores and blisters on feet and raised temperatures.
In sheep, the signs include sudden and severe lameness, frequent lying down when made to sire, blisters on hoof where the horn joins that skin which may extend all around the coronet and in the cleft of the hoof.
When the blisters burst, the horn is separated from the tissues underneath and hair around that hoof may appear damp.