Indonesia Collaborates with International Partners to Control Foot-and-Mouth Disease
IIndonesia has been battling foot and mouth disease (FMD) which has affected cattle in 22 out of 34 provinces. To date, the country has launched vaccination campaign in those provinces, along with other national containment efforts such as animal quarantine and enhanced biosecurity protocols.
To increase its efforts to control the disease, the Government of Indonesia has extended international collaboration by working closely with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and numerous international partners, such as the Government of Australia.
The Indonesian Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL), said that in addition to maximizing vaccination as a temporary and permanent agenda in controlling FMD; the government also continues medical treatment for sick cattle and farm disinfection as the efforts to suppress FMD transmission. Regarding this matter, the Minister of Agriculture expressed his gratitude for the attention and great contribution of all parties in controlling FMD.
Regarding the visit of the Australian Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Minister SYL said that many things were discussed related to cooperation between the two countries in the agricultural sector.
"We discussed many things, global issues, challenges of climate change, and the needs of two countries in agriculture security for both Indonesia and Australia," said Minister SYL.
One of the issues that was seriously discussed in this cooperation agreement was FMD. Australia as a country that is geographically close to Indonesia pays special attention to this issue.
“FAO has been working closely with the Government of Indonesia since the outbreak to control FMD that has threatened food supply chain and livelihoods of farmers”, stated Rajendra Aryal, FAO Representative for Indonesia and Timor Leste.
FAO has been facilitating further international collaborative efforts, such as by delivering 10 thousand doses of FMD vaccines thanks to the support from the Government of Australia through FAO-Australia-ASEAN joint project on Strengthening Mechanism in Animal Health (SMART-ASEAN). These were among the first batches of doses that kick-started the national vaccination campaign in June this year.
FAO has also facilitated several consultation meetings with international experts from various countries to exchange knowledge and best practices to control FMD. Recently, FAO fielded an emergency mission of multinational expert team to several affected provinces to advise the Government of Indonesia on short and long-term actions.
Furthermore, FAO has been supplying additional laboratory equipment to enhance FMD detection capacity of the disease investigation centres. FAO and the Government of Indonesia are looking forward to launching a virtual learning programme for approximately 350 animal health field workers in 34 provinces to rapidly control FMD using globally recognised learning materials.