Bolivian Livestock Industry and the Last Vaccination Cycle Against Foot-and-Mouth Disease

The Bolivian National Service for Agricultural Health and Food Safety (Senasag) reported that the last immunization with vaccination against foot-and-mouth disease in cattle began on April 24.

Livestock producers pointed out that suspending vaccination is more expensive than maintaining it. They argued that an outbreak could close the meat and milk markets that Bolivia has open, according to a note published on the eju.tv portal.

Vaccination in Santa Cruz will take place from April 24 to June 7, while immunization in Cochabamba will take place from May 15 to June 30.

“It is the last cycle that will be vaccinated,” said Ronny Salvatierra, national head of Animal Health.

This position generated surprise among livestock producers, who pointed out that in order to maintain export markets and open new ones, it is necessary to continue with vaccination.

“The Santa Cruz livestock sector considers that the best way to avoid foot-and-mouth disease and keep markets open and open new markets is to protect with vaccination. Stopping vaccinating is much more expensive than continuing to vaccinate,” said Adrián Castedo, president of the Bolivian Confederation of Cattlemen (CONGABOL), quoted by the portal. (Read: Bolivia implements protocol to mobilize cattle)

He added that stopping vaccinating means hiring officials to supervise staff and human resources. “We understand that Senasag does not have the conditions,” she said.

He pointed out that the decision to suspend vaccination has not been coordinated with the sector he represents. “There is the risk of an outbreak. Exports of meat and milk are cut until it is controlled and it can take weeks or months,” Castedo said.

export market

The Bolivian livestock sector has the potential to multiply its current meat exports by 20 if the conditions are given. Santa Cruz and Beni have a larger area than Paraguay, which exports 2.5 billion dollars compared to the 130 million that Bolivia exports, according to the portal elmundo.com.bo

Castedo said that to begin with, Bolivia can double its meat exports in the short term from 20,000 to 40,000 tons because it has a surplus of 70,000 tons available, after covering domestic demand.

The Bolivian market is covered with 260,000 tons of beef and production is 330,000, so there is a surplus that can be exported right now. (Read: How has Bolivia fared in the more than two years that it has been exporting beef to China?)

He indicated that “if we compare ourselves with Paraguay, Santa Cruz and Beni have more territory than our neighbor, which currently exports 2.5 billion dollars in beef and our exports do not exceed 130 million dollars.”

With that territory and with the genetics developed in recent years, Bolivia can easily multiply its exports by 20 and surpass Paraguay if the conditions are given to the livestock sector.

The livestock leader highlighted the progress in Cebuina genetics that has reached a high level that has made Bolivia a benchmark in the matter. Thanks to this, each year, there is a 3% growth of cattle in carcass weight and earlier, which added to the vegetative growth of another 3%, there is a growth of livestock in meat tonnage of 6%.

“Thanks to the development of livestock genetics, we have gone from 2,000 tons of exports five years ago to 20,000 currently, with enormous prospects for growth,” he said.

He highlighted that this genetic advance has opened markets to Bolivia for the export of genetics that are already sold to several countries, “but the great market is Brazil, which can open the doors of the world market for us to export semen and embryos,” he said. (Read: Dairy and meat farming grows in Bolivia)

In addition, he stated that Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Guatemala, Cuba and Panama are taking steps to take Bolivian genetics for their high quality.

The Bolivian bovine cattle herd, according to 2022 figures from the Santa Cruz Cattlemen’s Federation, reaches 10 million 654 thousand 573 heads.