Indonesian farmers pay the price of foot-and-mouth disease before the Eid sacrifice

Indonesian farmer Okky Pratama usually sells dozens of cattle for Eid al-Adha and makes most of his profits around the Islamic day of sacrifice, but this year he sold just five.

An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has swept through two Indonesian provinces since April, killing thousands of cows and infecting hundreds of thousands more, worrying consumers ahead of the July 10 festival.

Build-ups of the highly contagious animal virus in East Java and Aceh provinces have rocked ranchers and their production during the busiest time of the year in a country with the world’s largest Muslim population.

“I’m pessimistic about sales. Unusually, regular buyers have not sent me any purchase requests,” said Pratama, whose cow farm is located in the mountainous city of Batu in the hard-hit East Java province.

“When I contacted them, they said they don’t[want]to sacrifice any cattle to foot-and-mouth disease this year.”

Profits from the holiday season – around 60 million rupiah ($4,000) – make up 75 percent of his annual income, Pratama, 31, told AFP.

But he has so far lost two of his cattle to the disease, which was first detected in early May.

33 others were infected but recovered after intensive care.

As of July 6, the disease had spread to 21 provinces across Indonesia and infected more than 320,000 livestock, according to official figures.

Over 2,100 of them have died from the disease.

Indonesia has been outbreak-free for 30 years, but farmers are taking a fresh blow to their business after the coronavirus pandemic shut down restaurants and food vendors.

Cow breeder Masrizal said he was struggling to sell his cattle due to sluggish demand for meat and closed cattle markets in Aceh province.

“Since the markets are closed, I had to be proactive in offering the sacrificial cattle to the mosques and the people in the villages,” he said.

The disease particularly affects cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, and policy in Europe – as during the UK outbreak in 2001 – has typically been to prevent herds from being slaughtered.

But farmers in Indonesia are trying to keep their valuable assets afloat despite the risk of the disease spreading through close contact between animals, contaminated feed and farm equipment.

Animals infected with the disease usually lose their appetite and are temporarily unable to walk due to blisters in their mouths and feet.

The government stepped in, set up a task force and ordered the culling of more than 2,800 animals.

The country’s religious affairs minister has told Muslims they should “not force themselves” to sacrifice cattle during the outbreak.

Suharyanto, the head of the government’s new task force, compared the outbreak to the Covid-19 pandemic, and Jakarta said it will seek to give healthy cattle 800,000 vaccinations by July 7, before the day of sacrifice.

“As long as cattle are treated well and fed well, they can recover, God willing,” Agung Suganda, director of livestock at the Ministry of Agriculture, said in a webinar last week.

Suharyanto said smallholders whose livestock were culled will receive up to 10 million rupiah ($666) in compensation – far less than the thousands of dollars the farmers made from Eid sales last year.

And the cancellation of orders ahead of the outbreak and calls for refunds have caused farmers “extraordinary” losses, said Indonesian Cattle and Buffalo Breeders’ Association (PPSKI) chairman Nanang Purus Subendro.

“We need to speed up the process because we are in a race against the virus.”