State Cuts Budget for Foot-and-Mouth Vaccinations

This year the portion of the state budget that was to be allocated for vaccinations against foot-and-mouth disease in Armenia has been cut due to the economic crisis, said Grisha Baghiyan, head of the Department on Food Security and Veterinary Services State Inspectorate at the RA Ministry of Agriculture, at a press conference today.

If last year both large and small livestock were being vaccinated against the disease, this year it will be possible to vaccinate only large livestock (that is, cattle and not sheep or goats), due to these budgetary cutbacks, since this year the state budget has allocated only 500 million dram for the purpose, while in 2009, that amount was 1 billion dram.

Baghiyan assured that, so far, no cases of foot-and-mouth disease have been registered in Armenia this year.