Mindanao gets FMD-free certification

DAVAO CITY — The Paris-based Office Internationale des Epizootes (OIE) has finally declared Mindanao as a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) free zone which will enable livestock growers on the island to penetrate foreign markets and export their meat products.

The international certification was issued last May 30, the Mindanao Business Council said.

The Department of Agriculture has been working on the certification for a long time. With the cooperation of livestock growers in Mindanao, strict quarantine measures as well as close monitoring and surveillance activities were carried out to ensure that the FMD virus would not reach Mindanao.

Senator-elect and former Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara vigorously pushed for the FMD certification last year.

A number of European countries have lately been hit by the FMD plague, forcing the killing and burning of thousands of cattle and other farm animals. The disease causes blisters in the mouth and feet of pigs, sheep, goats and cattle.

The OIE is a private organization based in Paris, France that monitors the incidence of animal diseases worldwide. The World Trade Organization (WTO) recognizes it since it helps national governments in monitoring and controlling animal diseases should there be an outbreak.

Mindanao accounts for more than 33 percent of the country’s swine and poultry production.