Lumpy skin disease becoming a nightmare for cattle farmers

It is generally believed that most farmers who do not commit suicide own cattle that compensates for the farm distress. Moreover, like the industry sector, which gets an economic stimulus or an economic bailout at the drop of a hat, cattle owners too need an economic stimulus package, which conforms to the number of cattle a farmer has lost, and in addition to cover up for the cost of medication and the fall in income a farmer suffers

­The picture is scary. The aerial shot taken by a popular Hindi newspaper shows thousands of cattle carcass littered along the highway to Bikaner in Rajasthan. Reminiscent of the ghastly images of human dead bodies lying buried along the river Ganges, near Allahabad, when the second phase of deadly Covid-19 epidemic had hit the northern regions of country, the Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) in cattle has also grown in epidemic proportions.

The report says as many as 6,000 cattle have died in the urban parts of the city from the LSD virus whereas another 50,000 cattle have perished in the rural hinterland in the Bikaner region. Owners of these cattle are throwing the carcass in open fields, which serve as an open dumping ground. In another news report, more than 2,000 cattle have died in the hilly State of Himachal Pradesh, and another 53,000 bovine have reportedly contracted the viral infection. In both these cases, improper disposal of the dead bodies is causing health and sanitation issues.

Ever since it was first reported from West Bengal and Odisha in 2019, the viral disease has now spread to 12 States, right from Himachal Pradesh in the north to Kerala in extreme south, and as well as to Andaman and Nicobar islands. It is spread by blood-sucking insects, including mosquitoes and flies. The first time I read a report in Down to Earth (Jan 13, 2021) magazine on how the disease has spread to cattle in Kerala, and how it has the potential to leave a devastating impact in the country, I have followed the slow progress in taking adequate precautions and launch preventive measures. It left me wondering why as a nation, while we are still struck in the pandemic after effects, we have failed to see the urgency in controlling another viral disease which is equally contagious, and could be equally devastating or perhaps more.

The only difference being that the viral outbreak was in cattle, which have no voice. Media reports say the disease has inflicted more than 11.50 million cattle, and has killed at least 50,000. This is a grossly underreported number, and farmers claim that unofficially the number of cattle deaths would be several times more. But still worse, the disease load is on the small, marginal and landless farmers who have traditionally thrived by owning a couple of dairy animals. The economic fallout on these marginalised communities is far greater given the fact that most have reared a few cattle to somehow eke out a living.

Endemic across Africa and the Middle East, the vector-borne disease has now transgressed the national borders to spread into Balkan countries, Russian Federation and also to Asia. According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) high-milk producing cattle of Europe and America are more susceptible compared to the indigenous cattle in Asia and Africa. Considering that most cattle in India are non-descript, and carry low immunity given the poor intake of nutritiously adequate feeds, the outbreak has been high among cattle that belong to small and marginal farming communities. But if the spread goes out of control, even the bigger dairy farms can be negatively impacted.

There is no evidence of the LSD spreading to humans. This is perhaps what keeps us disinterested of the pandemic proportions that the disease has already spread among cattle in India. Given that the cattle population is about 300 million, and although many experts have said that the peak of spread is already over, the entire effort still has to be on containing any further spread of the LSD in bovine population, including buffaloes. Let us not forget, for a small and marginal farmer, the timely vaccination of the affected cattle means a livelihood saved. Remember, India is also the world's largest producer of milk, with domestic production touching 204 million tonnes. If the spread goes unchecked, milk production gets impacted, with small and marginal farmers facing a serious drop in incomes. At the trade level, countries can ask for LSD-free trade status.

At present, the Ministry of Agriculture has set up a control room. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has already announced an indigenous vaccine for LSD. The National Research Centre for Equines (NRCE) at Hisar and the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) at Izatnagar – the two institutes that developed the vaccine – can produce about 2.5 lakh dosages per month. Although a significant proportion of the affected cattle have been vaccinated with earlier available and equally effective goat pox vaccines, the new vaccine has to be quickly commercialised to make it easily accessible. This has to be reached to the affected regions as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, the Himachal Pradesh Kisan Sabha has in a memorandum to the State government made some important suggestions, which needs to be implemented even at the national level to deal with the contagion on a war footing. Calling for the virulent disease to be declared as an epidemic, the suggestion is to form an inter-department coordination committee to deal effectively with the epidemic. Once an epidemic is declared, the Disaster Management Authority will come into play. This will enable disaster management norms to become operative, including adequate compensation for the affected families whose cattle have perished or are affected.

Although the disease is reported to have spread to 165 districts in 12 States, but given the alarming situation, once the disease is declared as an epidemic, it will bring the entire country into being an affected zone. Prevention is better than cure, and like in the case of the Covid-19 pandemic, the effort on a war-footing should be to ensure that the virus is not allowed to spread to any new areas.

Even while the Centre dithers on the issue of declaring the contagion as an epidemic, an effective compensation plan should be announced for the cattle owners. This is important given the fact that dairy is the saviour when it comes to mitigating the severity of the farm distress. It is generally believed that most farmers who do not commit suicide own cattle that compensates for the farm distress. Moreover, like the industry sector, which gets an economic stimulus or an economic bailout at the drop of a hat, cattle owners too need an economic stimulus package, which conforms to the number of cattle a farmer has lost, and in addition to cover up for the cost of medication and the fall in income a farmer suffers.

(The author is a noted food policy analyst and an expert on issues related to the agriculture sector. He writes on food, agriculture and hunger)