A reasonable doubt saves livelihoods of thousands of farmers
A rapid respond for an animal health emergency is one of the keys to prevent disruption to agri-food systems and trade that lead to devastating economic loss to farmers. . While luckily the Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) does not transmit from animals to humans, the early reporting initiative and rapid response in Indonesia's province of Riau can be an excellent example to prevent other animal disease outbreaks in other parts of the world.
The LSD outbreak discovery started in Indragiri Hulu regency, seven hours drive from Pekanbaru, the capital of Indonesia's Riau province, on the island of Sumatera. There, a farmer reported sick cattle to Nuryadi (25), a community veterinary health officer. He thought, the cattle only just had an allergy. But the remedy did not work. He felt tingling doubts, afraid of something big waiting.
This young officer immediately consulted his senior, Jebul Soeharto (59). From Soeharto's personal collection of veterinary books, they learned the symptoms of LSD seemed to match with what they saw on the field. They quickly turned into high alert after realising how contagious this disease could be in the cattle. Later they found out that LSD has been well known among farmers in the word to reduce productivity of cattle and trigger major loss. Like any other pandemic, a huge economic downturn is expected to the farms if the disease spreads.
Immediately, Nuryadi, reported this suspicious disease to the authorities of Indragiri Hulu District, in Riau province of Indonesia., Not long after that, the Government of Indonesia officially reported the outbreak to the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE) on 2 March 2022.
At that time, LSD had already infected Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and other countries in Asia. The outbreak report from Indonesia had further alerted other neighbouring countries like Australia, which has a large cattle industry. Even when the LSD can be cured, it may still disrupt international trade of farm products. LSD will disrupt cattle productivity, and disproportionately affect small holder farmers and those farmers and traders in rural areas who depend on livestock for a living. As a result, farmers across borders may suffer from dropping cattle price, lower meat & milk productivity, and infertility due to the virus.
Separately, Bonayus Pariza, the interim head of the regency’s agriculture agency commended the thorough observation from the community veterinary health officers. To which she responded swiftly by alerting the Indragiri Hulu Regent, Rezita Meylani Lopi. Lopi is currently holding the record as the youngest female regent in Indonesia, having taken the office in 2021 at the age of 26. While the emergency reporting chain then reached the governor of Riau and eventually the Minister of Agriculture, in parallel, Pariza’s team alerted the national information system for animal health (iSIKHNAS). She also worked with Disease Investigation Centre of Bukittinggi to take samples and detect the suspicious disease, which then confirmed to be the Lumpy Skin Disease.
When asked about her sense of emergency reporting, Pariza told FAO team that, “I have no hesitancy at all. This disease can damage the cattle lives and livelihoods of our farmers. Therefore, I must duly follow the emergency chain of command to be able to get immediate directives of what to do, before the disease spread even further.”
Pariza was also very grateful that senior leadership above her shared the same concern, resulting into political support that able to expedite early detection and prompt supplies of drugs and vaccines to the region. The government launched emergency vaccination programme on 17 March 2022 as one of the disease control strategies, along with community education campaigns, vector control, cattle movement restriction, surveillance and early detection in Riau and neighbouring provinces.
Finally, Pariza hoped that her experience may alert other regions around the world that, “If in the slightest oddness one finds symptoms of a suspicious disease, please immediately follow the emergency alert system in place. It will save farmers at home and other countries from financial loss and save the public from food supply disruptions.”
Since 2006, FAO, with funding from USAID, has been providing various technical supports and trainings to build the capacity of Indonesian government officers at national and local levels to be able to prevent, detect and respond to various animal health diseases. This includes strengthening the laboratory diagnosis capacity of Indonesia’s eight Disease Investigation Centres (DICs) and training animal health workers throughout the archipelagic country on investigating disease outbreaks. With the recent development of LSD, FAO has supported the trainings for community vaccination officers, vaccination logistics, community education and campaign, as well as expert consultation and multi-sectoral policy advocacy in the province of Riau with the funding from USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance.