The dairy industry is suffering heavy losses due to a Tuberculosis outbreak hitting farms in the heart of the dairy farm sector.
Chair of the Fiji Cooperative Dairy Company Ltd Simon Cole was recently a guest on FBCTV’s 4 The Record programme and says large numbers of milking cows have died or had to be put down because of TB.
”TB is decimating our industry. We are going to lose 20% of our milking herd – this comes of course after TC Winston which went straight through the farming area – North Tailevu. The farmers are really struggling with this. It’s probably costing us $1.6m worth of milk every year.”
Farmers have also lost cattle to the value of half a million dollars.
Cole says it may take another 5 years for the TB outbreak to be completely eradicated and farmers will continue to suffer losses to livestock and income in the meantime.
Cole says this comes on the back of losses suffered during TC Winston and the industry has to be resilient for long term success.
