Disease risk for farmers

FEAR FOR FARMERS: Local farmer David Galpin (right) has expressed his concern for the detection of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in the nearby country of Bali, while the virus itself has not been detected in Australia for more than a century. Picture: File

Tyler Redway

AS the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) currently spreads among livestock in the popular tourist destination of Bali, Australian farmers are beginning to show concerns for what would happen if the disease were to reach their own stock.

Cases of the livestock disease were first reported in Indonesia back in May, while biosecurity measures have since been heightened to avoid any trace of the disease spreading to the livestock of Australia’s regional areas.

According to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), the last FMD detections were reported more than 100 years ago in Australia, with the most recent outbreak taking place in the United Kingdom back in 2001.

South Australian Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development Clare Scriven said the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) was closely monitoring the evolving situation of the FMD outbreak, including the most recent detection in Bali.

“DAFF is regularly engaging with Indonesia to provide assistance with response efforts and minimise risks posed by this disease with pre-border and border activities,” Ms Scriven said.

“PIRSA is working closely with state peak industry bodies and nationally through working groups to contribute to both national and state preparedness.

“PIRSA’s key areas of activity for preparedness will be enhanced surveillance to ensure early detection of disease, and planning to ensure a rapid and effective response should detection of this disease occur in Australia.”

Local livestock farmer David Galpin said the effects of the disease if it were to reach Australia would mean the destruction of entire livestock farms in order to eradicate the virus.

He added that movement and transportation restrictions could become a possibility and may need to be put into place in the future to prevent the risk of the disease being transmitted to other parts of the country.

“I guess we are lucky enough with our farm that we don’t buy anything from anywhere else, we’re self-replacing,” Mr Galpin said.

“Sometimes livestock in general is shifted around the place all the time and once you stop that it gets pretty restrictive, making it pretty hard to manage your business.”

Mr Galpin said he wouldn’t know how to recover from the effects of the disease and that everyone was sitting back to wait for things to improve before business can continue as per usual.

“It would just devastate the whole country because we export so much of our produce,” he said.

“When farmers have got money, we usually buy sheds, fencing material, chemicals, tractors and all those types of things, but we can’t do that without an income.”

Mr Galpin suggested that the only way to stop the virus from spreading into Australia is to set up quarantine sites for travellers returning from Bali at the airports.

“If they’re not going to do that at the airports, then it’s going to get in sooner or later,” he said.

“At the moment, it’s a problem that is close by and I don’t think the Government or Australians realise how catastrophic it could be.”