The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has donated 100,000 doses of Anthrax vaccines to the Ekiti state Government.
The donation by the ministry was through the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) project.
The Ekiti Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Ebenezer Boluwade, who recieved the doses of vaccines on Thursday in Ado-Ekiti, said that the donation by the FG was aimed at strengthening animal health services in the state.
The commissioner said that the State Implementation Unit of L-PRES has been sensitizing stakeholders in the beef/dairy, pig and sheep/ goat value chains on the need to vaccinate their animals against anthrax disease.
Boluwade described anthrax as a very serious zoonotic disease that needs to be prevented before outbreak.
He said further that the state would carryout a massive vaccination programme targeted towards prevention of outbreak of the disease.
In his remarks, the State L-PRES Project Coordinator (SPC), Mr Olayinka Adedipe, lauded the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security for making Ekiti the first state to receive the anthrax vaccines.
Adedipe said that the state Implementation Unit of L-PRES would continue to create awareness and carryout sensitisation campaigns in all the nooks and crannies of the state and ensure that farmers vaccinate their animals to prevent diseases in the State.
Earlier,the Animal Health Technical Assistant, Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) Project, FMAFS, Dr Abubakar Sodiq, said that the allocation of 100,000 doses of anthrax vaccine to the state was to prevent the disease in the state.
In his remarks,the Director Veterinary Services, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr Emmanuel Osayomi, said that anthrax vaccine would prevent the outbreak of the disease.
According to Osayomi, anthrax could be transmittable from animal to human or from man to animal leading to great economic loss and at times to fatalities.
The Animal Health Officer, Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) Project, Dr. Oluwaseun Oluwarotimi appreciated the state for its commitment to animal healthcare.
NAN
