Cattle farmers in Murang’a are alarmed following reports of an outbreak of the dreaded foot-and-mouth disease in some parts of the county.

While confirming that the disease has been reported in Makuyu area, Deputy Director for Veterinary Services in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development Dr Jane Njuguna said farmers are advised to report any cases immediately and avoid trans-locating their animals.

The official spoke at Kenol, Murang’a South during a public consultation forum for the proposed Veterinary Services Development Fund Draft Regulations 2024, aimed at reviewing funding for the sector.

Dr Njuguna said farmers and transporters of animals must get permits from veterinary officers in order to check the spread of the disease which can easily wipe out herds.

“All farmers and transporters of livestock must get a permit from the local veterinary office, whether there is an outbreak or not so that we can check the movement of animals from one place to another in order to reduce the spread of the disease,” she stated.

The Deputy Director said the Veterinary Fund Regulations which were developed in 1996 are being reviewed to align with the 2010 Constitution which devolved most agricultural services to the counties.

“We are reviewing the regulations so that they can conform to the 2010 Constitution which ushered in devolved system of governance. We want to separate the sources of revenue since they have been collecting own resources,” Dr Njuguna added.

Once it becomes reviewed and operational, she explained, the Fund will be used for disease surveillance in case of an outbreak like in the case of the foot-and-mouth disease and purchase reagents to control it.

At the same time, the official allayed fears that there were shortages of vaccines, maintaining that the department has enough stocks and that all what county governments need to do is place orders for supply.

Farmers attending the forum had raised concerns about lack of vaccines and other drugs used to treat their animals and urged the government to allocate more funds for the purpose.

A farmers’ representative, Njuguna Kibe said they are forced to pool resources and order vaccines or drugs from individual veterinary officers as a result of the shortage from government stocks.

Kibe also said the public should be involved in the running of the Veterinary Fund to avoid cases of misappropriation of the resources.