The federal government, through the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES), a World Bank-assisted project, has donated over 200,000 doses of vaccines for animal vaccination across Gombe State.
Sanusi Abubakar, the L-PRES national coordinator, while presenting the vaccines to the state government in Gombe on Monday, said that the initiative was aimed at enhancing disease prevention.
Mr Abubakar said the vaccines would help improve animal health, protect public health, boost productivity and strengthen the livelihoods of livestock farmers in the state.
Mr Abubakar, who was represented by Sadik Usman, an official of the National L-PRES, said the intervention would empower the state to tackle trans-boundary animal diseases that affect livestock productivity and reduce farmers’ income.
“The package includes 150,000 doses for Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), 50,000 doses for Newcastle Disease, and 4,000 doses for Foot-and-Mouth Disease.
“These are intended to control the spread of trans-boundary animal diseases and improve overall productivity”, he said.
The national coordinator charged stakeholders to ensure the vaccines reach the intended beneficiaries.
He also announced that another batch of vaccines, specifically for Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) would soon be delivered to the state.
Receiving the vaccines on behalf of the state government, Barnabas Malle, the commissioner for agriculture, animal husbandry and cooperatives, commended the National L-PRES for its efforts to improve livestock productivity in the state.
Mr Malle said the vaccines were intended for free administration to livestocks across the state to combat deadly animal diseases.
He stated that the gesture would complement the state’s annual mass vaccination efforts, recalling that the state had previously procured Anthrax vaccines with L-PRES support.
The commissioner said with the large population of livestock in Gombe, the doses would go a long way in complementing the state’s annual efforts.
He said that the state was planning to procure additional vaccines to ensure full coverage of the state’s animal population.
Mr Malle pledged that the vaccines would be used judiciously in line with the mission and vision of the donors.
Usman Abubakar, the Gombe L-PRES Project coordinator, said that the intervention was vital for the state’s agricultural economy.
Mr Abubakar identified the listed diseases as major killers of livestock in the region, and expressed readiness to constitute a working group to oversee the vaccination drive.
He encouraged herders and livestock farmers to present their animals for the exercise, emphasising that the vaccination is both free and effective.
(NAN)