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Transcription

1 - "I would say that over the years, all farmers have lost a lot of animals, from cattle to sheep and goats, through this particular bont tick. You'd have flocks of sheep that I have encountered with other farmers, who would maybe be a hundred, coming on to the season of the tick, and after the season is end, they'd be done to maybe 30, 40. In a particular year we wouldn't really know exactly what caused the problems, you know the animals were just dying off."!"#$! %! $!%#&'( # ' $!%%(!%!$ $)*+,%! #$$#%"(!#!%-$(.$$ '!#!!!' % %$!#!!! $ $%%-/!%"$!%!$!0$$( -( 1$ '! % 2 3% $( 4!!!!((('! "There are multiple effects that a tropical bont tick would cause on an animal, one of those is just plain and simple, the bites of the tropical bont tick are quite vicious on an animal, and in Antigua we have a lot of local terms for the tropical bont tick and one of those is something called sinking tick, meaning that the tick actually, the mouthparts of the tick are

2 actually embedded underneath the cattle skin and the hide. The bites of those ticks especially they are found in the teats area, in the mammary gland area, they are found between the hooves and so on, tend to be very painful so animals would actually be lame even after the tick has been removed.an animal that would have had a tick between the hooves would have a problem as far as walking so they tend to lose weight and lose condition because they cannot really walk to get food. An animal that would have a tick somewhere around the udder, would have a problem as far as the calves or the kids nursing from it and the kids would actually suffer and sometimes die from it. " )556!!! %# '% ( 7!! 0"!.# % $$ 0".(! $! ( 9:"3: 80..8! #! 3 "$ 8 8#! 3 8#! &! /#! "Well, the particular project that we are involved in today has emerged out of a relationship that has lasted the better part of 8 or 9 years, between on the one hand the EU and USDA as funders, FAO as the technical assistant partner and the countries of the Caricom as beneficiaries. We are specifically now in Antigua, where we are doing an additional phase recently with USDA funding, FAO technical assistance support focussing on Antigua, also on Nevis and St Maartan, because these three islands have been found to be islands where there needs to be a particular focus on eradication The relationship of course has developed over the last 8 or 9 years to the extent that the donors are fully convinced that the project is sensible, it has been a contribution, and in the islands where we have been already the eradication has been spectacular over the last 8 years. "

3 -( ". 8#! /#!! $%!!! "The US, as well as other countries in the Americas, do not want the tropical bont tick to enter in, because it could be devastating to our animal livestock populations, in particular it would be devastating to the cattle population, sheep and goats, but also wildlife in these countries including the United States, and so the obvious reason is we don't want it to spread any further and enter into our country where then we'd have to take a more active eradication programme ourselves and undergo perhaps even today in today's world trade implications or trade barriers as a result of having this in our country. In a broader sense there's the desire to provide assistance to our neighbours." 0 #! ;$!!!%!( 4!!'<.!(((2'( "In Antigua and Barbuda [for instance], the stray animal population is a big problem, as far as the spread of the tropical bont tick, and actually it is because of that that we have looked at a different strategy as far as being able to deal with the eradication of the tropical bont tick. And we have realized that the stray roaming cattle population would have to be put under control for the programme to be successful. Really for an eradication anywhere close to successful you need to be treating 95% to 97% of your animals at all times, and of course 100% is even what we prefer. And with the number of stray roaming livestock we have in Antigua then that cannot be achieved and it becomes quite important to make sure that the animals that we have are under control and that the owners have access to them in order to be able to treat them with Bayticol, so we have impact on a programme, where we are actually branding and tagging animals to identify them to a particular

4 owner and we're also embarked on a cattle impounding process where any animals that are stray in public areas or any animal after the completion of the branding and tagging that are not bearing a brand or tag, those animals are going to be impounded. " $$!!#%$!!$!( 4!!$!% ##%$##!$!(!!!$ %%!$!!#! %$# $ ##%%!%!$$#$(!!% 4 2&=$ -!%$$ >!!!$ "We feed our animals on grass. You can't have any better thing. Grass is what Mother Nature expected cows, goats and sheep to feed on. We don't have any possibility of getting Mad Cow and so forth because we're not feeding animals to animals. And therefore as such, I do feel we have the right meats that we can give to the tourists. We have two problems. Right now when it comes to ground meat we have a ban on the importation of ground meat. We insist that the local farmers must at least supply that. We have pressures from the hoteliers, oh that the tourists want the taste of North America, where they are barley-fed and that sort of thing. I personally don't agree with that. A tourist comes to this country; they want to take a good steak. If the person looks after his animal properly, there's nothing wrong with that. The hotels are insisting that they must have imported meat. We are working towards in the very near future; say a year and a half to two years, where all the choice cuts can be done from our own animals."

5 -(>3 "!$-!% %!!! #! ' $! ( "Well the growth of the milk and meat industry on the island of course depends on the demand and one of the major demands is the increase in tourist arrivals, for us. Our population's been growing rather slowly over the years so the demand there might not be that much, but if we start marketing ourselves and doing a lot of the ideas that a lot of people have for various tourism products to increase that sector, certainly there would be an increase in demand for local production of meat and poultry products. The potentials are really really great for us and really great for the economy, and all we have to do of course is provide the right incentives to the local producers and ensure that we have the correct standards to meet the local market. %! $ % % $ %!!'( &$ %!!!!!# % ( "We are able to have more animals and therefore we are able to sell more. So it has benefited us tremendously in that regard, and we are hoping that in the years to come we'll get rid of this tick completely. So we won't have a problem with it again. We hope that through vigilance, through cooperativeness, with CAP, with all the farmers in Antigua and Barbuda, that, you know, we would get rid of this tick. All farmers do not see it that way. And its regrettable so because its to our detriment for those who don't want to get on board. It's a lot to do with mentality. Some people are just, for want of a better word, stubborn. They are not willing to comply and they

6 are tentative to cooperate with the CAP programme and I'm not happy with that, because I know what that will do in the long run. It will mean that we will get re-infestation, and if there's no free CAP programme, no free bayticol through any CAP programme, then that means that for those of us interested, like myself, and other farmers, we'd have to go back and buy it. 2!$!!?#(-( ".! % %$ % $!((((!!!( "We're at a very critical point, I feel, at this point. We've demonstrated that the methodology is sound, we've shown progress in that we have 6 of the 9 CAP islands provisionally free, but we also know, and it was always known, that there's the possibility of reinfestation. Those re-infestations, the key to keeping those islands provisionally free is that the islands continue to have an animal health infrastructure and continue to do surveillance for foreign animal diseases. In those islands that are provisionally free, the tropical bont tick and its associated diseases is considered an exotic disease. It is a critical point because if we don't have the funding to keep eradicating the tick, then those are potentially islands for re-infesting the islands that are provisionally free, or new islands in the Caribbean or in the Americas. And so at this point it's important to find additional funding to finish the CAP islands, but also to find the funding to eliminate the tropical bont tick from the French West Indies, and I think that just like the programme to date has been a multinational effort, I think it's a multinational effort that needs to be taken forward."!!!' %!!!(!

7 # $ $# %!$$ $! %$!(-!%$(!$ $ " We still have to maybe try to touch with the younger ones, school leavers, those in school, maybe they might be able to persuade some of their parents who have animals and so on. So we have to try and find whatever ways or means to get across the education." Radio Post-production (FAO): Producer: Liliane Kambirigi Narrator: Edward Ogolla Studio Engineering: Eric Deleu Filming Reportage (FAO) in Antigua: Video producer: Boudicca Downes Sound recording and cameraman: Massimo Fioravanti Technical Adviser: FAO, Rome and Barbados #@,,6