A total of Eleven million dollars was raised at the launch of the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) National Taskforce and Support Fund.
The event demonstrated a successful public-private partnership, with farming unions and financial institutions coming together to pledge their support.

Although Namibia was recently declared free of FMD without vaccination, stakeholders have been hard at work to prevent any outbreak currently experienced around neighbouring countries.

Within three weeks a fund and taskforce were created to mitigate any outbreak.

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform (MAFWLR), Inge Zaamwani, said the two initiatives are aimed at enhancing collective efforts to protect the country's livestock sector and safeguard the nation's animal health statutes.

Further, to secure national income and sustain access to high-value international markets that Namibia has been able to secure for the livestock sector.

"And coming together in the way we have come through the launch of these two strategic initiatives just demonstrates our resilience and our ability to respond quickly when facing danger. But we also have other dangers that require us to act in the same way. We have very high unemployment and youth unemployment; our economy is not growing. It requires this kind of response. "We don't have time; we need to move fast," highlights Zaamwani.

However, the minister warned farmers against self-initiatives to vaccinate livestock, which will jeopardise the country's status of its premium beef.

"Now I have heard rumours have it that some of us as farmers have already started considering vaccinating our herds. And I just want to say that is already a prohibited activity that you are considering because currently our status is FMD-free without vaccination. So if you start to think you are protecting your head at your farm level, it has national implications because once it is picked up, we immediately lose a whole country and lose our status as an FMD without vaccination."

The ministry announced a need for N$122 million to prevent or tackle any possible outbreak. 

So far the government has made N$57 million available, and the fund is expected to raise another N$50 million from private sector contributions. 

Ingrid Henckert-Weissnar, a member of the FMD National Taskforce, adds, "We are defined by the unity that has actually brought us here, by our preparedness and our determination to protect what matters." And we are ready to raise awareness. We are ready to prevent the virus from entering our country. And we are ready to respond to it if it does."

The taskforce consists of experts from the ministry and representatives from farmers' unions.