Help! Livestock Affected By FMD In Central Lombok Soared While Budgets And Medicines Were Limited

Photo via Antara

JAKARTA - The Agriculture and Livestock Service Office of Central Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) noted that the number of cattle affected by the nail mouth disease (PMK) continues to increase every week.

"The data on FMD cases in Central Lombok has reached 15 thousand cows, buffaloes and goats," said the Head of Agriculture and Livestock of Central Lombok Regency, Lalu Taufikurahman in Praya, Friday, June 24.

PMK cases in Central Lombok have indeed increased. The reason is that the epidemic actually attacked other livestock, although the number of recovered cattle also continued to grow from 6,000 to 8,000 recovered.

"The rest of the cattle that are still sick are around 7,000 heads and are in the process of being treated," said Lalu quoted from Antara.

The threat of a FMD outbreak in Central Lombok is indeed quite high, because the livestock population reaches 300 thousand head of livestock. The FMD outbreak, which is an infectious disease, can indeed attack all hoofed/even hoofed animals such as cattle, buffalo, goats and pigs or ruminant livestock.

However, the outbreak in Central Lombok mostly attacks cattle, which until now the spread continues to increase.

"In addition to cows, currently buffalo and goats are also starting to be affected by the FMD outbreak," he said.

To prevent the spread of PMK, the local government has now started to provide free mass treatment, but the availability of drugs and budget are still constraints. So that the free treatment is carried out gradually in locations where the population of FMD cases is quite high.

"The total number of cattle that have been given free treatment is around 1,200 from the target of 2,800 according to the available budget," he said.

Meanwhile, the animal market in Central Lombok is still closed until July 5 in order to prevent the spread of the FMD outbreak.