(Business in Cameroon) - On the initiative of the FAO and the Animal Health Organisation, experts on animal farming issues in Central Africa have been meeting since August 24, 2015 in Yaoundé. According to Dr. Taiga, the Cameroonian Minister of Animal Husbandry, Fishing and Animal Industry, the meeting in Yaoundé aims to refine the sub-regional strategy for the eradication of sheep and goat plague in Central Africa.

According to official figures, the animal illness threatens over 22 million heads of capital, 36 million sheep and goats and 6 million hogs in countries of the sub-region, while the rearing of these animals contributes between 1 and 40% of the agricultural GDP of some countries in this part of Africa.

In Cameroon, the last outbreak of the animal plague was declared in September 2014 in Logone and Chari, a department of the Extreme-North region, the main hog farming area (25%) where 70 animals were infected on four pig farms. Despite the prompt reaction by the authorities in charge of animal health, the outbreak spread across four of the country’s ten regions, without causing major damage. This is unlike Cameroon’s first outbreak in 1982 when 80% of pork livestock were decimated.