Botswana could find itself losing its battle against the Foot and Mouth outbreak in the North East District (3c) and (6b) Zones as some livestock owners in the affected areas breach of quarantine zones.
Coordinator of the Foot Mouth Disease(FMD) Control in the North East District Dr Benard Mbeha revealed last week that, ‘the main challenge that we are facing is that some farmers are refusing or simply ignoring to comply with our disease control measures which directly undermines our efforts in the fight against the disease. They let their animals roam in the affected areas. Some of them simply skip mandated vaccination cycles. Non- vaccination of livestock by farmers has also led to other disease infections such as the Lumpy skin,’
Addressing the just ended Full Council meeting in Masunga, Mbeha warned that the non-compliance could spread the disease to free areas particularly the nearby Zone (6a) which is listed for export.
‘We want to enforce tighter control measures. Livestock that are found roaming in the restricted zone areas will be destroyed. Maybe this will send a strong message for these farmers to take responsibility and take care of their livestock,’ he warned.
He emphasized that illegal livestock movements, failure to vaccinate and breach of quarantine zones have the potential to enable the virus to spread causing trade suspensions and threatening the country’s beef export market in the European Union.
FMD was officially confirmed in the country on the 29th of January 2026 in the North East District. The virus was detected in Jackalas 1 village(Zone 6b) prompting a suspension of the FMD free-status and later Zone (3c) in villages such as Maitengwe. Immediate bans of cloven-hoofed animal movements were implemented, including Zone 6b and 3c.
Dr Mbeha said FMD control is still restricted to Zone 3c and 6b in the North East District. On a positive note he said their surveillance has shown that there is no further spread of the disease out of these restricted areas. He said the disease within 3c where they initially had cases has been eradicated. They however continue to have cases at Mowana and Senyawe villages in Zone 6b. He said this is possible because the vaccine they have administered on the animals takes time to be effective.
In terms of vaccination of cattle in Zone 6b, he said they achieved 91 percent in the first round and 96 percent in the second round. As for Zone 3c they reached 93 percent and 97 percent respectively. Looking at the figures, he said it is clear that there are a number of animals that are still not being brought for vaccination. He expressed concern that this poses a risk for further infections.
Dr Mbeha said compensation for destroyed animals remains the same as per Directive of 2016, which is P700 for each cattle and P400 for each goat.
Meanwhile Dr Mbeha said Botswana continues to be susceptible to FMD disease due to the current FMD outbreaks in neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe and South Africa. He said the control measures in these two countries have not been very effective.
‘It will take time before we are out of the FMD risks due to the situation in the neighbouring countries,’ he said.