Indonesian farmer Okky Pratama usually sells dozens of cattle for Eid al-Adha, making his biggest earnings around the Islamic day of sacrifice, but this year he has sold just five. A foot-and-mouth disease outbreak has ripped through two Indonesian provinces since April, killing thousands of cows and infecting hundreds of thousands more, raising consumer fears before the July 10 festival.
Clusters of the highly infectious animal virus in East Java and Aceh provinces have rattled cattle farmers and their output during the most profitable time of year in a country with the world’s biggest Muslim population.
Profits from the holiday season — around 60 million rupiah ($4,000) — account for 75 percent of his annual earnings. As of July 6, the disease had spread to 21 provinces across Indonesia and infected more than 320,000 livestock, according to official data.
Over 2,100 of them have died from the disease. The disease specifically attacks cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, swine, sheep and goats, and the policy in Europe — such as during the British outbreak in 2001 -– has typically been to slaughter herds of animals as a precaution.
But farmers in Indonesia are trying to keep their precious assets alive despite the risk of the disease spreading through close contact between animals, contaminated feed and farm equipment. Animals infected by the disease usually lose their appetite and temporarily cannot walk as they develop blisters inside the mouth and on the feet.
The government has stepped in, setting up a task force and ordering the culling of more than 2,800 livestock. The country’s religious affairs minister has told Muslims they “should not force themselves” to sacrifice cattle during the outbreak.
Source: eNCA
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