Agriculture to approach Treasury amid foot-and-mouth crisis
Updated | By Sinethemba Madolo
The Department of Agriculture has requested additional resources from Treasury to enable it to slaughter cattle infected with foot-and-mouth disease.
The department has quarantined an area in Vhembe in Limpopo after laboratory tests detected the disease in animals.
The investigation started on Monday soon after farmers reported lameness in some of their cattle.
The department’s Kahaye Nkwanyana says scientist have begun vaccinating livestock suffering from the disease.
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"We are still doing more tests in the area, as we have quarantined the area, because we want to get the exact figure as to how many cows are affected in that are also that we can appreciate the full extent of this outbreak,"Nkwanyana says.
Minister Senzeni Zokwana is also set to meet farmers and Treasury.
"If we get additional resources from Treasury we may opt for killing them, which means we would have to compensate those households that will have lost their stock out of this."
Nkwanyana says the disease has not spread beyond Vhembe at this stage.
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