The Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) held a training and update session on foot-and-mouth disease for vaccinators located in the department of Arauca, at the beginning of the additional vaccination cycle in border properties.
Ensuring the country’s agricultural health is the responsibility of ICA, in order to prevent the introduction and spread of pests or diseases that may affect national livestock. Also, it is the duty of the Institute to adopt, in accordance with the law, the sanitary and phytosanitary measures that are necessary to make effective the control of animal and plant health.
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By virtue of the recommendations provided to the country by the World Organization for Animal Health (OMSA), derived from the foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks presented in the departments of Arauca and Cundinamarca in 2017 and in the departments of Boyacá, Cesar and La Guajira, in 2018, it became necessary to reinforce the immunological condition of the bovine and buffalo populations under 24 months of age, located in the border departments with Venezuela.
This is due to the endemism of foot-and-mouth disease in the neighboring country, which brings with it a high probability of re-entry of this virus to susceptible populations in Colombia (such as border areas), a situation that places certified free zones at risk. and the country’s livestock economy.
Narda Martínez Peroza, sectional manager of the ICA in Arauca, stated that the purpose of this vaccination day is to strengthen the immunity of foot-and-mouth disease in the vulnerable population of cattle and buffaloes, males and females, but, above all, to preserve the health status of the country.
Source: Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA)