Luthianna Hollenbach
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - 85% of Brazil's cattle population is rid of hoof and mouth disease, despite the fact that the disease is spreading throughout the world. According to the new secretary of Agricultural Disease Prevention of the Ministry of Agriculture, Gabriel Alves Maciel, the goal is to reach 100% by 2006. "We are working to maintain the situation in areas already free of hoof and mouth without the need for vaccination, such as the state of Santa Catarina, as well as in 14 other states that are free of the disease but still use vaccines," Maciel affirms.

The secretary added that the country is well prepared to engage in the war against hoof and mouth, and this is the reason the government has been mobilizing the entire society. "Our objective is for this war to be silent but deadly, eliminating the threat this disease poses to Brazil's livestock activity," he declares.

In Maciel's view, Brazil has made great progress in its efforts to control the disease. He said that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the Minister of Agriculture, Roberto Rodrigues, have insisted with presidents of other countries, such as Paraguay and Bolivia, to keep hoof and mouth disease from spreading to Brazil's neighbors and prevent it from arriving in Brazil across their common borders.

"With respect to meat exports, we have worked hard on the inspection front. Since Brazil's exports have been growing, the fight against the disease should be increasingly rigorous," he says.

"We face heavy competition. Everyone wants to carve out markets and opportunities. Even more so, since Brazil is currently the world leader in meat exports, in both beef and poultry, surpassing Australia, and this really makes these countries commercial rivals," the secretary explains.

According to Maciel, "everyone is on the lookout for Brazil. Consequently, the country is striving to be increasingly alert and determined, to be able not only to maintain a high level of exports but also to increase Brazil's international market coverage."

Translation: David Silberstein