Indonesian FMD outbreak soliciting drastic responses

The outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in Indonesia poses a huge threat to Australian ag and drastic action needs to be taken, according to the sector’s leaders.

Travel from Australia to Indonesia should be banned following the spread of foot and mouth disease in that country, a beef industry analyst has suggested.

Global Agri Trends market analyst Simon Quilty said there should be an Indonesian tourism travel ban for at least six months after what he said was the “Indonesian government’s slow response to the crisis, the lack of vaccines and the uncontrolled movement of cattle”.

“We have a problem on our doorstep we need to think about, not just put our head in the sand,” Mr Quilty said.

“The real concern is two diseases in play – Lumpy Skin Disease and FMD – and if FMD should come to Australia, every market open to us closes overnight.

“We are confident South Korea would ban us for a minimum of three years and China would ban us overnight.”

Indonesia’s approach to tackling the FMD outbreak, which has now grown to more than 20,000 affected animals and across more areas, was criticised by Mr Quilty who said the only way for Australian producers to “rest easy” was for the whole Indonesian herd to be vaccinated.

He said the Indonesian beef industry had gone into a lockdown last week to stop animal movement and was trying to source vaccines.

Even still, tourism presented a huge risk for FMD to enter Australia, he said.

“We are creating highways through each of our airports at Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane for FMD … the disease can be carried on clothing,” Mr Quilty said.

“As a country, we seriously need to think about banning people going to Bali, as extreme as that sounds.

“There is a 50:50 chance of FMD reaching Australia and that threat is immediate with cattle prices collapsing by 80 per cent.

“So just get your house in order.”

Prior to the Covid pandemic, almost 1.4 million Australians visited Indonesia during 2019.

Victorian Farmers Federation livestock president Steven Harrison said the idea to ban tourism to Indonesia “had merit” with West Australian farmers, many of whom use Indonesia as a travel destination, potentially at most risk of being carriers.

“The average farmer doesn’t understand the fall out from FMD – we could be reduced to a 10th of our income for five to eight years,” Mr Harrison said.

“At the very least, we need much stronger border security to stop it (FMD) at our borders.”

Australian chief veterinary officer Dr Mark Schipp and deputy chief veterinary officer Dr Beth Cookson are in Indonesia meeting with senior government officials to discuss animal health and biosecurity co-operation.

A Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment spokesman said there had been “no formal confirmation of foot and mouth disease outside Java and Sumatra in Indonesia”.

“The emergence and rapid spread of FMD in Indonesia has changed its risk profile and the department has heightened border activities accordingly,” the spokesman said.

“Operational change advice has been sent to front line staff about FMD risks with detailed guidance on targeted FMD questioning to risk assess travellers arriving from Indonesia.

“Biosecurity officers have increased FMD questioning and will commence further targeted airport operations.”