By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Farmers now need a state license to own and raise livestock, according to new government regulations intending to better control foot-and-mouth and other infectious animal diseases.
Special training and classes will have to be undertaken to obtain the permits, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Tuesday.
Also, farms failing to properly control their animals during the outbreak of foot-and-mouth, avian flu and other ``malicious'' diseases will be prevented from raising livestock for a certain period.
The new rules were announced as the government officially declared an end to the recent foot-and-mouth crisis that hit farms around Pocheon and Yeoncheon in Gyeonggi Province.
The 82 livestock markets around the areas reopened Tuesday with famers returning to sell cattle, pigs and other animals.
Nearly 6,000 cattle and pigs had been slaughtered since early January, when the first case of foot-and-mouth was found in a cow at a farm in Pocheon.
``After completing the sterilization, we have conducted disease examinations and antibody tests at the farms again. All tests were negative, so we decided to lift all movement limitations,'' said an official at the agriculture ministry.
However, with foot-and-mouth outbreaks continued to be reported in China and some Southeast Asian countries, the ministry plans to have local livestock farms sterilized at least once a week through the end of May as a precaution.
The government will wait until June before reopening negotiations with countries like Japan and China over resuming exports of meat and dairy products, while filing to regain a foot-and-mouth ``free'' status with the OIE (World Organization for Animal Health).
Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly infectious viral disease that can prove fatal in cows, pigs, goats and other animals.
The hooves and mouths of the infected animals become blistered, which cause lameness, increased salivation, loss of appetite and rapid weight loss.
According to the changes pushed by the ministry, only farmers with related academic degrees or those who have completed certain educational courses will be granted permits to raise livestock.
The ministry is also looking to strengthen equipment and facility requirements in farms, while penalizing livestock owners who fail to conduct necessary quarantine and sterilization measures in the case of outbreaks.
The ministry will operate a taskforce on the livestock disease-related regulations before announcing a detailed plan sometime during May.
thkim@koreatimes.co.kr
