FMD free status must be guarded - Hikufe
Outbreak will devastate market access
Namibia must remain vigilant to protect its lucrative export markets and rural livelihoods from foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), Dr Emmanuel Hikufe, Chief Veterinarian at the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS), warned delegates at the 62nd annual Livestock Producers Organisation Congress.Delivering a detailed briefing on “The impact of foot-and-mouth disease, if it occurs, and the practical implementation of the FMD contingency plan,” Dr Hikufe said Namibia’s current FMD-free status remains fragile, as neighbouring countries continue to report outbreaks or lack recognised disease-free status.
“FMD is a viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals... and it’s highly contagious,” Hikufe told producers. He cautioned that where vaccination has lapsed, “the disease can infect over 80%, and sometimes even all 100% of the animals in that area.”
Current FMD status
Namibia is divided into three FMD control zones: a dark-green free zone stretching from the Orange River to Oshivelo (the former Red Line), a protection zone to the north where cattle are vaccinated twice annually, and an infected zone in the Zambezi Region and parts of northeastern Kavango East due to free-roaming African buffalo that can harbour the virus.
Hikufe painted a sobering regional picture: “We are surrounded by countries that either have an active outbreak or are not recognised as free,” he said, referencing recent outbreaks in South Africa and Eswatini, and noting that several neighbours do not hold disease-free status. That proximity, he warned, increases the risk that FMD could reach Namibia.
Beyond animal health, the chief veterinarian outlined the severe economic and social consequences of an outbreak. Although FMD rarely kills large numbers of adult animals, it devastates market access: “If you have FMD, no one wants to deal with you. The European markets, the USA, China – they will close,” he said. Loss of export markets would depress local prices and force producers to sell into an already saturated domestic market.
Other direct impacts include sharp reductions in milk yield on infected dairy farms, in some cases to zero, and weight loss in beef cattle, leaving producers to bear added feeding costs before animals can be marketed again. Social customs tied to cattle - weddings, funerals and lobola - would also be disrupted, he said, recalling the north’s 2015 outbreak when movement restrictions forced people to source animals from distant locations for ceremonial slaughter.
Hikufe provided figures to illustrate the scale at stake: Namibia’s herd consists of roughly 2.5 million cattle, 2.1 million sheep and about 2.9 million goats — and substantial numbers are kept in the free zone that supports high-value trade.
Updated FMD plan
The DVS has updated and reworked the national FMD contingency plan in collaboration with industry and other ministries. Hikufe described it as “a national document which outlines FMD strategies and measures that must be implemented, aimed at preventing the disease, preparing for an outbreak, and controlling it if it occurs.”
Key elements of the plan include strengthened border controls, surveillance, farmer and staff awareness campaigns, and a protocol for immediate movement restrictions. The contingency plan can be activated not only on confirmation of disease but also on significant suspicion: “If there is a suspicion, we take samples, do all that we need to do, and stop movement,” Hikufe said.
A central tool for limiting damage, he added, is early detection that enables the creation of a World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)-approved containment zone. That zone, physically defined by barriers such as fences, rivers or topography, allows the rest of the free zone to continue trading once approved. Within a containment area, authorities may apply emergency vaccination and, where necessary, culling of infected and in-contact animals.
“It sounds harsh, but that has to be done if we want to get rid of these diseases quickly,” Hikufe told the congress, noting Germany’s recent use of culling to regain FMD-free status. “Germany had a disease in buffalo recently (in January 2025). They had to cull all of them, and they regained their status quickly,” he said.
The contingency plan also models outbreak scenarios to estimate costs and response scale. Using earlier risk analyses, planners estimated that a small outbreak involving 5 000 cattle could require culling and compensation costing tens of millions of Namibia dollars; larger or poorly reported outbreaks would be far costlier and could force a shift from stamping-out to longer-term control measures, delaying recovery of free status.
Compensation and consequences
Compensation is provided for under Namibia’s Animal Health Act, Hikufe stressed. Section 30 allows owners of animals or products destroyed for disease control to claim fair market value at the time of destruction, but the Act also denies compensation where the owner contravened the law, for example, by illegally importing infected stock or products. “If this is done deliberately, you will be charged, and the things will be destroyed without compensation,” he said.
Delegates were urged to remain vigilant and to report suspicious clinical signs immediately. “If you detect it early, you can respond early and it will probably just affect a small area,” Hikufe said, stressing the crucial role producers play in surveillance and early warning.