The Senior Divisional Officer for
Mezam has banned the movement of pigs in and out of Mezam Division in the North
West Region of Cameroon. The Prefectoral Order banning the movement of pigs
came after thousands of pigs are reported to have died within the past week. According
to sources to link to the Regional Delegation of livestock, the illness has not
yet been identified. Moreso, the services of Livestock have proven helpless to
the outbreak. Yet, sources hinted that samples of dead animals have channeled
to the Centre Pasteur in Yaounde
for examination. It is feared that if ravaging illness is not stopped, the pig
sector in Mezam will be completely wiped off in the next days. At the beginning
many farmers thought it was swine erysipelas, but the syndromes are completely
different. Farmers complained that the pig starts by losing appetite and then
dies within the next hours. The lack of pig slaughter houses and storage
facilities have further complicated things for the farmers. Even though a vaccination
campaign was recently launched in the Northwest, farmers have complained a
variation in prices. “Presently the situation is pathetic because if the
illness is not identified, I fear the sector will be wiped off” says Atomba
Titus of the North West Pig Cooperative.
On the other hand, some farmers say
it is the first time they are seeing such a ravaging disease.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. Minute by Minute Report on Cameroon and Africa
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