(Ecofin Agency) - Senegalese government will soon establish a roadmap to stop small ruminants’ plague (PPR). This information, announced by Aminata Mbengue Ndiaye (picture), minister of livestock and animal production, was relayed by Agence de Presse Sénégalaise (APS).

The project valued at CFA12 billion will run for six years with as main objective to eradicate, by 2025, the viral disease affecting goats and sheep and manifested by oral lesions or pneumonia.

“The plague of small ruminants threatens the means of subsistence of millions of small-scale farmers through its devastating impact on sheep and goats, which account for a large share of income of poor and vulnerable families. The project will first be technically validated by all stakeholders before being proposed to the government for final validation,” M. Ndiaye indicated.

Let’s recall that livestock sector accounts for about 4% of Senegal’s GDP. The country counts about 6 million sheep and 5 million goats, according to data from Senegalese agency for statistics and demography.

Espoir Olodo