Banjarmasin, S Kalimatan (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Agriculture has presented two awards to the South Kalimantan provincial government for its efforts to handle the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak that affected farm animals in the province.
"These are awards for our governor's commitment to dealing with the FMD outbreak," head of the South Kalimantan Plantation and Animal Husbandry Office, Suparmi, remarked here on Monday.
South Kalimantan is the only province that has received two awards, she added.
According to her, the first award was given to South Kalimantan for its measures to achieve zero FMD cases, and the second award was given for the province's FMD vaccination achievement.
"Two award certificates have been given by the Minister of Agriculture, and then we have delivered them to the governor," she said.
Since July 14, 2022, the province has no longer recorded FMD cases, Suparmi informed.
The provincial government is targeting to administer 44 thousand FMD vaccine doses to farm animals, and so far, the vaccination coverage has reached 78.28 percent, she added.
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With 78.28 percent coverage, South Kalimantan's FMD vaccination achievement is the highest in Indonesia, she said.
"We continue to move to reach 100 percent as soon as possible," she added.
Meanwhile, Governor of South Kalimantan, Sahbirin Noor, said that he is delighted and proud of the performance of the FMD Handling Task Force at the provincial, district, and city levels, saying it has worked tirelessly to control the outbreak and secure farm animals vulnerable to FMD in the respective regions.
"Alhamdulillah (thank God), this is South Kalimantan's commitment to handling FMD. We hope that we will continue to improve this result for the welfare of farmers and the Banua community," he said.
The task force must move quickly, precisely, and accurately to take strategic steps to handle FMD, he added.
To check FMD transmission, the Indonesian government launched a vaccination program for farm animals from Sidoarjo district, East Java, on June 14, 2022. The government is aiming to complete early-stage FMD vaccinations by mid-September 2022.
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