Commercial farmer denies spreading FMD
Businessman and commercial farmer Adriaan (AJ) Louw says he is not responsible for bringing foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) into Namibia.
Louw dismissed allegations that he smuggled livestock into the country or illegally vaccinated animals.
His mother’s farm at Graswater in the ||Kharas region was the first farm where the veterinary services detected the disease last month.
Graswater is approximately 8km north of the Orange River. When Namibia announced its first outbreak of FMD in its primary commercial livestock zone in 60 years, the veterinary services had said the disease was detected during a routine surveillance.
“Claims that I smuggled animals into Namibia, illegally vaccinated animals, or was responsible for introducing FMD are entirely false and without factual basis,” he says.
Louw says he has records and supporting evidence regarding animal movements.
“Neither I nor anyone acting on my behalf has smuggled livestock or game onto any of our farms or administered FMD vaccines illegally,” he says.
This week, president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, during an FMD high-level address, said FMD cases increased to 127 across 15 farms.
As of 5 October, the teams had inspected 29 313 animals across 68 farms.
Agriculture, fisheries, water and land reform minister Inge Zaamwani told the National Assembly last Wednesday that the disease remained confined in the ||Kharas region.
Louw tells The Namibian that veterinary officials had planned to inspect five or six farms in the area when they discovered the first case.
“This was a routine inspection which we get and we haven’t had for a few months. So there were five or six farms that were lined up. The very first farm that they tested was positive. And after that, it was farm after farm positive,” he says.
Louw says the outbreak extends beyond his mother’s farm, impacting multiple farms along the Orange River, from the Warmbad area to Ariamsvlei.
Two farms associated with Louw have also tested positive for the disease. According to Louw, veterinary specialists have advised that the virus may have been circulating in the area before authorities detected the first case.
“The first farm on which FMD happens to be detected should, therefore, not automatically be assumed to be the source of the outbreak,” he says, adding that a positive test does not establish where the disease originated or who introduced it.
He says veterinary experts and the relevant authorities should determine the source of the outbreak through investigations. Louw says his family has cooperated with the Directorate of Veterinary Services since the outbreak began. He says the FMD restrictions have placed financial pressure on farming families who depend on livestock sales to cover their expenses.
“So yeah, it affects each and every farm in the south and we depend on income from our livestock to pay for the expenses of the farm, including the workers. Every family is battling it at the moment,” he says.
FMD causes fever and blisters in animals’ mouths and around their hooves. The blisters can make it difficult for animals to eat and, in some cases, the disease can lead to death. The disease has also affected several southern African countries, including Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
