<strong>MAFs Bans Movement of cattle, goats and sheep</strong>

By Alusine Fullah

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has released a public notice for a temporary ban on cattle, sheep and goats movement along the Liberia Sierra Leone boarder. Following confirmed reports from the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) in Liberia, through its Field Office in Lofa County on the discovery of cluster of dead cattle in a field in Kelima Bendu Town, Foyah District, the Ministry of Agriculture, and Food Security (MAFS) and partners in Sierra Leone would like to institute the following preventive measures with immediate effect.

Moreover, it could be recalled that 36 cows were found dead on Thursday, July 6, 2023, in the cow fields along the Foya- Mendekorma Highway at Kelima Bendu Town four miles from the border with Kailahun district. A team of coordinated inter-governmental animal health specialists under the ONE HEALTH PLATFORM in neighboring Liberia are investigating the cause(s) of death.

In nexus to the foregoing, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security stated on their public notice:

1. TEMPORARY band of movement of cattle, goats, and sheep along the Liberia Sierra Leone boarder.

2. Prohibit the entrance of meat and meat products from Liberia into Sierra Leone.

3. Restrict the movement of cattle, goats, and sheep from Kailahun, Kenema and Pujehun to other districts in Sierra Leone.

4. Temporary ban on the movement of meat and meat products from Kailahun, Kenema and Pujehun to other districts in Sierra Leone.

5. Temporary closure of all livestock markets in Kailahun, Kenema and Pujehun

6. Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and partners’ step-up surveillance in slaughterhouses, for sick animals and humans with signs and symptoms of anthrax in Kailahun, Kenema and Pujehun.