The lack of veterinary staff on the ground worries farmers about the disease in their cattle, which is becoming increasingly complicated. Picture: Tam Phung.
Quang Trach District is located in the north of Quang Binh Province, adjacent to Ha Tinh. With the Government Implementing Decree 34 of April 24, 2019 amending and supplementing a series of regulations on cadres and civil servants and part-time civil servants at the municipal, village, residential and district levels, Quang Trach has made a reduction in the number of veterinary staff on community level.
Mr Tran Van Dinh, head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Quang Trach District, said that after the reduction in the basic veterinary workforce, communities had to hire staff to carry out epidemic preventive measures in livestock. This situation makes disease prevention and control in livestock difficult and limited.
Since 2020, Quang Trach has registered many co-occurring diseases in livestock herds. Among them, African swine fever emerged in Quang Thanh Township. After being under control for a long time, the epidemic has erupted again in many townships in the county, causing heavy losses to pig farmers.
While the African swine fever epidemic is still complicated and uncontrollable, the risk of recurrence is high in many places. In early 2021, a new disease will appear in Quang Trach, which will once again put the farmers in this place in a precarious situation.
Cattle rashes first appeared in Quang Xuan Township and spread rapidly. According to the Quang Trach Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development report, the rash in buffalo and cows has spread to 16/17 remaining communes in the district after it first appeared in Quang Hop commune.
Inflammatory skin diseases have sickened more than 1,700 buffalo and cows, and nearly 130 children died. Many households were unable to rebuild their herds. African swine fever also resulted in over 200 pigs (total weight nearly 7,000 kg) dying and being destroyed.
We and a delegation from Quang Binh Livestock and Veterinary Medicine Sub-department were returning to Quang Tung Township when rashes in buffalo and cows and African swine fever broke out. The work of epidemic suppression and disease prevention faces many difficulties.
According to many people, African swine fever broke out twice in the community in a short period of time. Dermatomyositis appeared for the first time in buffalo and cows in particular, but this had serious consequences for the herd of cattle farmers with almost 100 infected buffalo and cows.
Veterinarians carry out disinfectant sprays to contain the outbreak of skin infections in Quang Trach district of Quang Binh province. Picture: Tam Phung.
Ms. Le Thi Thu Thanh, secretary of the Quang Tung Township Party Committee, said that as of 2019, there is no township-level veterinary officer in Quang Tung. Jobs related to disease control and disease prevention in the community must be eliminated, such as spraying disinfectant, spreading lime, and vaccinating the community’s livestock.
“Because there is no veterinary staff at the community level, in many places, apart from the support of the District Agricultural Service Center, people have to do disease prevention and control by themselves and without professional knowledge, so it is difficult to put an end to the epidemic.” .” said Ms. Thanh.
When there are no veterinary workers left in the community, propaganda, disease detection, and disease prevention and control at the facility are limited. Not to mention that municipalities have to hire their own staff, which seriously affects the quality of vaccination and veterinary work in some localities.
In early May 2023, an outbreak of dermatomyositis occurred in Quang Trach District. The disease appeared in 50 households/10 villages in Quang Luu, Quang Thach, Quang Hung and Quang Phuong communes. In a short time, 50 cows fell ill and died, of which 9 cows died from the disease in Quang Luu Township, Quang Phuong.
From this fact, it can be seen that the lack of veterinary staff at the community level has had a major impact on disease prevention and control, especially when outbreaks of African swine fever and rash in buffalo and cows occur in Vietnam.
The simultaneous occurrence of many diseases has caused many difficulties and great losses for farmers. Therefore, disease prevention is seen as a key and important factor.
Mr. Tran Van Dinh, head of the Quang Trach District Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that given the current complicated disease situation, the lack of a community-level veterinary system poses a big gap in disease prevention for livestock. Maintaining or establishing an adequate veterinary service is one of the important factors in deciding on the effectiveness and sustainable development of animal production.