By Maheesha Mudugamuwa

Dairy and livestock farmers have voiced concerns over the heifers who were imported to Sri Lanka without being quarantined under a project launched by the Government.

The National Organiser of the All Island Farmers Federation (AIFF) Namal Karunaratne told The Morning that the dairy sector had plunged into a severe crisis due to apathy on the part of the Government concerning the importation of heifers from Australia suffering from disease.

He alleged that the majority of heifers imported from Australia were suffering from Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) and Fasciola Heptica (Liver Fluke) (FH), two dangerous diseases which could also infect humans.

Highlighting a letter dated 14.02.2018, Karunaratne said the Deputy Director (Veterinary Research) of the Department of Animal Production and Health (DAPH) Dr. S.S.P. Silva had informed the Secretary to the Ministry of Rural Economic Affairs that the imported heifers were suffering from BVD and FH which could be transmitted to humans as well.

The Deputy Director (Veterinary Research) suggested that the Ministry Secretary get the medical reports of heifers for the past three years, separate the infected animals from others, remove the viral infected animals from the farms, and compensate the farmers. The disease called Liver Fluke has been reported in the Badulla District and therefore, the Ministry was asked to provide necessary treatment for the infected patients.

However, the samples of the infected heifers had been sent to the international research lab in London for further experiments, he said.

AIFF stressed that the heifers imported from Australia were not insured and therefore, the Government would lose a huge sum of money due to the disease spreading among those heifers. In addition, there was a serious threat for the dairy industry as the Government had not taken any step to control the disease; instead, they had sent the reports to London for further tests without accepting the local veterinary reports.

The dairy farmers and their families are in a serious situation as the local medical reports categorically mentioned the possibilities of the virus infecting humans.

Therefore, AIFF urged the Government to take immediate action to rule out the unidentified disease from the country.

The agreement was signed for a $ 73.9 million-worth project to import 20,000 heifers from Australia under the Rajapaksa regime in 2014 with Wellard Rural Exports (Pvt.) Ltd. of Australia with the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government reviving the project in 2015. The objective of the project was to enhance the local dairy industry.

The AIFF National Organiser said, even though the Government’s objective was to enhance the dairy industry, the benefits of the importation of heifers did not pass on to the farmers as the heifers were shared between two government ministers.

The Government has spent Rs. 520,000 per heifer and sold it to farmers at a lower rate of Rs. 200,000, but the farmers were urged to buy at least ten heifers at once which was impossible for a small scale dairy farmer, he stressed.

So far, the Government has imported 5,000 heifers.