Archive for the General Authority for Veterinary Services

750,000 sheep and cattle worth LE2.75 billion slaughtered for Eid

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October 30th, 2012

Veterinarians Syndicate President Sami Taha has said that 500,000 sheep and 250,000 cattle were slaughtered for Eid al-Adha.

Official sources at the Ministry of Agriculture estimated the value of the cattle at LE1.75 billion and the value of the sheep at LE1 billion.

They also said that only 1,500,000 people slaughtered animals for the holiday, attributing this to the high poverty rate in Egypt.

Hassan Hafez, chairperson of the Camel Importers Association, said 25,000 camels worth LE200 million were slaughtered. “Prices of camels went down this year,” he said.

Sources at the General Authority for Veterinary Services said the meat that was consumed during the Eid equaled 10 percent of the total aggregate meat consumption per year.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Categories Egypt Economy
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Agriculture Ministry imports meat for Eid

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October 17th, 2012

Egypt has imported 36,000 cattle and 30,000 camels from countries as diverse as Sudan, Brazil, Croatia and Australia in preparation for Eid al-Adha, according to Osama Selim, head of the General Authority for Veterinary Services at the Agriculture Ministry.

Additionally, four committees from the authority have traveled to Sudan and Ethiopia to import live animals for the holiday at the end of the month.

The ministry's production sector head Mahmoud Meslehy said that beef prices have reached LE48 per kilogram and lamb LE55 per kilogram, with live sheep and cows costing LE26 and LE 30 per kilogram, respectively.

Meslehy added that the production sector began Wednesday selling live sheep to the public. Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holiday celebrating sacrifice, begins late next week.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Categories Egypt Economy
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Foot-and-mouth disease deaths reach 11,335 livestock

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March 31st, 2012

At least 62,691 cattle have been infected with foot-and-mouth disease and 11,335 have died so far, the General Authority for Veterinary Services has said.

Official agriculture sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm that measures have been tightened on waterways, including the Nile, in various governorates to prevent corpses being dumped in water and to reduce the spread of the virus.
 
Fatehy al-Nawawy, professor of meat control in Cairo University, said that the virus is transmitted from dead animals to soil and water if people do not follow safe procedures to get rid of them.
 
Al-Masry Al-Youm said the government is considering announcing regulations for compensating people affected through cooperatives or the livestock protection funds of the Ministry of Agriculture.
 
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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Report: Over 10,000 animals dead in foot-and-mouth outbreak

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March 31st, 2012

Over 61 thousand animals have been infected with foot-and-mouth disease, and over 10 thousand have died from it, according to a new report from the General Authority for Veterinary Services.

The report documented the rising rate of the disease, which has devastated Egypt’s livestock population and led to a large increases in meat prices. The report also found that the import of live animals from Sudan and Ethiopia is not responsible for introducing the foot-and-mouth strain to Egypt. Researchers did not find any links between the disease and animals brought from the country’s ports.

Hayani Saad, chairman of a meat producers association, said that the country might see the end of the foot-and-mouth crisis in the beginning of April. Imported vaccines and warmer temperatures due to the start of the summer season should deter the disease, he said.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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Report: Over 10,000 animals dead in foot and mouth outbreak

by admin
March 30th, 2012

Over 61 thousand animals have been infected with foot and mouth disease,  and over 10 thousand have died from it, according to a new report from the General Authority for Veterinary Services.

The report documenting the rising rate of the disease, which has devastated Egypt’s livestock population and led to a large increases in meat prices. The report also found that the import of live animals from Sudan and Ethiopia is not responsible for introducing the foot and mouth strain to Egypt . Researchers did not find any links between the disease and animals brought from the country’s ports.

Hayani Saad, chairman of a meat producers association, said that the country might see the end of the foot and mouth crisis in the beginning of April. Imported vaccines and warmer temperatures due to the start of the summer season should deter the disease, he said.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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Egypt produces first foot-and-mouth vaccine

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March 29th, 2012

The Holding Company for Biological Products & Vaccines (VACSERA), which is affiliated with the Health Ministry, together with Nivac Pharmaceuticals, has produced a new vaccine to immunize animals from the SAT2 strain of foot-and-mouth disease on Thursday.

Dr. Osama Selim, head of the General Authority for Veterinary Services, said 1 million doses would be ready on Tuesday to be distributed among small farmers for free.

“The vaccine will be tested on Monday,” he said, explaining that it would be given to the healthy animals to limit the spread of the disease.

More than 60,000 head of cattle have been affected, of which more than 10,000 have died from the virus that swept Egypt in February.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Govt to continue importing Nile Basin meat despite syndicate fears

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March 29th, 2012

The state veterinary authority has rejected experts’ demands for Egypt to stop importing live cattle and frozen meat from Nile Basin countries, amid suspicion that the imports have led to new foot-and-mouth infections.

During a meeting on Wednesday, the General Authority for Veterinary Services declared that sheep smuggled across Egypt’s border with Libya caused the foot-and-mouth epidemic, adding that shipments from Nile Basin countries are subject to rigorous checks in both those countries and Egypt.

The authority asserted that no animals imported from the Nile Basin have shown signs of infection.

As of 26 February, the number of cattle infected with foot-and-mouth has risen above 10,000. The veterinary authority said the new infections are spread when traders violate the ban on transporting cattle between governorates and fail to implement medical and veterinary procedures to protect the animals.

The decision to continue importing livestock and meat came as the Veterinarians Syndicate expressed its fear the situation would worsen, amid rumors that Egypt may witness a new bout of the rift valley fever, which, unlike foot-and-mouth, threatens humans as well as animals. The Agriculture Ministry has denied these rumors.

Syndicate head Samy Taha said if the state insists on continuing to import cattle and sheep, particularly from Ethiopia, then the animals should be dead and frozen.

Taha added that the “meat mafia” — referring to Egyptian meat traders — imports live cattle from Ethiopia because of their low prices. These cattle are old and more prone to epidemics, he said.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Foot-and-mouth disease cases reach 52,271

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March 25th, 2012

The number of foot-and-mouth disease cases in Egypt has risen to 52,271, with 7,754 resulting in death, as of Sunday, according to a report prepared by the General Authority for Veterinary Services.

Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Reda Ismail issued instructions that agricultural associations in the governorates affected by the disease be given soft loans worth LE20 million.

Ismail also issued another LE8 million in compensation for members of cooperative societies who have incurred losses due to the disease.

An official source at the Agriculture Ministry said small farmers would not benefit from Ismail’s decision and that it only “serves the association mafias.” The source noted that no more than 50 percent of members in said associations are farmers.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri’s cabinet is considering announcing rules next week for disbursing compensation to farmers who have incurred losses from foot-and-mouth, after growing criticism over the government’s failure to respond to farmers’ demands.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Poultry and fish price hikes follow foot-and-mouth disease epidemic

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March 22nd, 2012

The current rise in poultry prices is due to the prevalence of infectious bronchitis (IB) in birds, which is killing over 750,000 a day, say government officials.

Mohamed al-Shafei, the vice chairman of the Federation of Poultry Producers, said the slight rise in poultry prices can be blamed on “increased demand for poultry after the spread of foot-and-mouth disease in various governorates, increased costs of poultry feed, and over LE8 million in losses incurred by the poultry sector after it failed to bring the bird flu and IB virus under control.

The General Authority for Veterinary Services has “failed” to produce anti-IB vaccines despite repeated promises to do so since the new viral strain was diagnosed in March 2011, he said.

Shafei called on authorities to immediately import — at producers’ expense — the vaccines necessary to protect Egypt’s poultry population under the supervision of the veterinary authority.

Mohamed Fathy Osman, chairman of the General Authority for Fish Resources Development, said the current fish production rates have helped temper the increase in meat prices, a result of the foot-in-mouth outbreak. He added that increased market supplies of fish have helped keep per kilo tilapia prices at LE12, although traders have unjustifiably tried to raise fish prices.

He told Al-Masry Al-Youm that while fish prices have gone up slightly, fish production has increased as well. He explained that Egypt's total production of fish in 2012 has so far amounted to 1.3 million tons, up 100,000 tons from last year.

Official sources at the Agriculture Ministry said the fasting period currently being observed by Copts, which is expected to continue until 14 April, has helped keep meat prices down.

Dr. Suhair Hassan, head of the Central Department for Preventive Medicine, said the number of cattle infected with foot-and-mouth disease from 26 February to 20 March has now reached 46,000.

She told Al-Masry Al-Youm that 6,071 animals have died from the disease and Gharbiya Governorate was hit the hardest, followed by Daqahlia Governorate.

Meanwhile, the government has instructed all concerned ministries and governorates to prevent the transfer of animals between governorates to help curb the spread of foot-and-mouth.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Categories Egypt Economy
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Official: Over 3,000 livestock deaths from foot and mouth disease

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March 17th, 2012

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is continuing to spread in Egypt, with officials saying that 3110 livestock have been lost so far.

The disease appeared in Minya Governorate in Upper Egypt on 6 March and has spread to governorates nationwide.

Essam Abdel Shakur, of the General Authority for Veterinary Services, has said that the number of livestock afflicted with FMD 'Sat 2' has amounted to 33,553 infections and 3110 deaths, state news agency MENA reported on Saturday.

FMD is an infectious and sometimes fatal virus that affects cloven-hoofed animals. It causes a high fever for two or three days, followed by blisters inside the mouth and on the feet that may rupture and cause lameness.

Shakur added, according to MENA, that in Gharbiya Governorate 15,099 infections and 1285 mortalities have been reported, and in Dakahliya there have been 3952 infections and 255 deaths.

In Alexandria 1872 livestock have been infected, and in Menoufiya 204 have died, he said.

Shakur said that so far 40 percent of the infected animals have been cured.

Last week, the Agriculture Ministry approved 11 measures to protect livestock from the spread of FMD.

The new measures include local authorities burying dead animals instead of allowing them to be dumped in canals or drains, and the suspension of vaccination campaigns against the disease until the new strain is diagnosed.

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Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
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