Milliyet Son Dakika43 minutes agoAgriculture1 min readTürkiyeView original

First FMD Outbreak in Namibia in 60 Years: Meat Exports Stopped

A ban has been imposed on meat exports throughout the country due to foot-and-mouth disease seen in Namibia's commercial livestock region.

namibia foot and mouth disease ministry of agriculture

Quick Look

Foot and mouth disease was detected in commercial livestock farming in Namibia for the first time since 1964.
While meat exports were stopped across the country due to the epidemic, industry representatives stated that exports to Europe would be affected by 90%.

AI-generated summary

Why It Matters

Foot-and-mouth disease is a viral infection that affects cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, sheep and goats, and poses no danger to humans but is highly contagious.

Font size

According to the statement made by the Ministry of Agriculture, for the first time in Namibia after 60 years, an outbreak of foot and mouth disease was observed in the commercial livestock area, and this led to a ban on meat exports throughout the country.

Foot-and-mouth disease, also known as FMD, is a highly contagious viral infection that is not dangerous to humans but affects cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals, including sheep and goats.

Namibia became the eighth country in Southern Africa to be affected by foot-and-mouth disease this year, following Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The ministry said the virus had spread to a region that has remained officially free of oral and nail disease since 1964.

90% OF EXPORTED MEAT WAS SENT TO EUROPE

"This is the first time we are experiencing an epidemic since our independence and this will have a negative impact on the sector," Ministry of Agriculture spokesman Romeo Muyunda told AFP.

According to the Livestock Producers Association Nammic, more than 13,381 tonnes of beef were exported in 2025, of which more than 90 percent was sent to Europe.

A "NATIONAL STATE OF DISASTER" WAS DECLARED

It was reported that a "national state of disaster" was declared in the Republic of South Africa at the beginning of this year due to the foot and mouth epidemic seen throughout the country.

Elias Sithole, President of the National Disaster Management Center, stated in his statement that the foot and mouth epidemic seen in the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and Western Cape provinces has reached the level of a national disaster.