90% of cattle in Al Dhuleil, Al Hallabat farms infected with FMD — dairy association

AMMAN — The Ministry of Agriculture on Sunday decided to temporarily suspend imports of rough fodder from Iraq.

The ministry also announced that it was closing livestock barns in the governorates for 14 days after detecting a new strain of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), Al Mamlaka TV reported.

The ministry reported that it vaccinated four million head of sheep and cows as part of the national immunisation campaign for FMD, noting that the vaccine "has proved its efficacy", according to Ministry Spokesperson Laurence Majali. 

According to Majali, most registered cases of FMD in Al Dhuleil were infections of the new strain — there were no cases of infections of the previous strain in sheep and cows.  

Majali said that Agriculture Minister Khalid Hneifat took several precautionary measures and contacted the ministries of interior and local administration as well as the Greater Amman Municipality to move ahead with veterinary quarantine, sanitisation and immunisation.

The spokesperson noted that the ministry also launched a campaign to immunise livestock and establish veterinary hospitals. The ministry also floated a tender to issue e-numbers. 

He added that the procedures also include mobilising ministry personnel in the central follow-up room and full coordination with official institutions and associations. The ministry will also hold daily meetings headed by Hneifat.

Ali Ghabayen, president of Al Dhuleil Dairy Cattle Association, told Al Mamlaka that 90 per cent of cows and calves on farms in Al Dhuleil and Al Hallabat are infected with FMD.

Ghabayen noted that 150 cows and calves have died of FMD in Al Dhuleil.

The Agriculture Ministry said that it is in the process of contacting companies that manufacture veterinary vaccines that are effective against the new strain of FMD.