Cattle Shipments From NTT Increase Amid Foot And Mouth Disease

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KUPANG - The Kupang Class I Agricultural Quarantine Center reported that the number of cattle shipments out of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) has increased amid the spread of animal mouth and nail disease (FMD) in several areas in Indonesia.

"Currently, the demand for cattle shipments from NTT has increased compared to before the PMK. And the increase is about 20 percent," said Head of the Kupang Class I Agricultural Quarantine Center, Yulius Umbu H in Kupang, as reported by Antara, Saturday, May 28.

Before the PMK, the number of cattle sent out of NTT only reached 1,742 heads. But now, when the PMK is in place, the number of cattle shipments has actually reached 2,759 heads.

Yulius Umbu said that cattle shipments from NTT to a number of regions in Indonesia are still being carried out because there are indeed many requests and NTT as one of the cattle supplying provinces is currently free from FMD.

"Therefore, we are working hard so far to prevent livestock from areas exposed to FMD from entering NTT," he said.

Currently there is a task force formed by the Governor of NTT Viktor B Laiskodat which consists of the Agricultural Quarantine Center, KSOP, Indonesian National Police and a number of other relevant agencies such as the NTT Animal Husbandry Service.

The task force that was formed is to prevent the entry of livestock from infected areas, including processed or packaged products from split-hoofed animals, such as beef sausage, pork, goat and others.

Yulius also said that apart from preventing the entry of processed four-hoofed animal products, the Kupang Class I Agricultural Quarantine Center also routinely checks the health of the cows prepared for shipment.

Currently, there are 16 provinces in Indonesia that are exposed to Animal FMD. The 16 provinces are Aceh, Bangka Belitung, Banten, Yogyakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Lampung, West Nusa Tenggara, West Sumatra, South Sumatra, Riau and North Sumatra.

"That's why we are trying to block the entry of cattle with split-hoofed cattle from a number of areas," he added.

He also hopes that there will be no cases of PMK in NTT so that it will not have an impact on the sale of cattle, or other livestock