Foot-mouth disease outbreak and vaccination among beef breeders: a case study in Bone Regency, South Sulawesi

When it comes to animals, particularly beef cattle, with even nails, foot and mouth disease (FMD) is contagious. The goal of this study was to determine how knowledgeable beef breeders were about FMD outbreaks and immunizations. Since Bone Regency is the first-order provider of cattle in the province of South Sulawesi, this study was carried out in the Libureng subdistrict, Bone Regency, in 2023. Cattle farmers made up the entire population. Purposive sampling was used to determine a sample of 48 breeders. Using a questionnaire, data were collected through observation and interviews. Mean and percentage were used in the descriptive analysis of the data. The study’s findings revealed that cattle breeders had heard of FMD (41/85.42%), the cattle had FMD (9/18.75%), and the cattle had FMD vaccinations in the previous year (21/50.00%), cattle farmers immunize their cattle annually (35/72.92%), immunization can prevent FMD outbreaks in livestock (44/91.67%), cattle farmers were willing to pay for the FMD vaccine (42/87.5%), the FMD outbreak increases the number of livestock after vaccination (87.50%) and purchasing livestock could spread disease (18.75%).


Introduction
On 2 July 2022, the Indonesian government, through the Indonesian Disaster Management Authority, announced the declaration of a state of emergency for an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Diseases that pose a significant risk to the cattle farming industry.Before the announcement, Indonesia had maintained its FMD-free status since 1986, a designation acknowledged globally by the World Organization for Animal Health in 1990.Although FMD does not have a direct impact on human wellbeing, there is a significant danger of a decline in the standard of living due to the demise of livestock and the sudden decrease in prices.According to The Government of Indonesia, cq Directorate General of Animal Husbandry and Diseases, 5 (five) factors need to be taken into account in managing FMD, which are: 1).Immunize healthy animals that are vulnerable to FMD; 2).Preserve enclosure cleanliness IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1341/1/012095 2 and biosecurity; 3).Control and restrict the movement of animals and animal products; 4).Quarantine ill animals and new animals; 5).Implement eradication (slaughtering) of sick animals on islands that are yet unaffected by FMD [1].
The vast majority of choices made and guidelines followed are a part of the national FMD intervention plan.However, practicality and the ability to adjust to changing circumstances are also crucial during the execution of the plan, as history has proven.Preemptive killing may have decreased the number of outbreaks in France, but while developing animal health policy, it is equally important to consider the societal implications of such measures [2].
Reference [3] argues that one source of flesh for the community is bovine cattle.The flesh is highly rich in nutrients and offers a variety of vital nutrients that are difficult to obtain in the appropriate amounts from alternative food sources.Reference [4] argued that the requirement for livestock items, particularly beef, has increased in line with the population and income levels in Indonesian society.
The Bone region possesses the highest quantity of cattle in South Sulawesi.Information from the Livestock Service Office in Bone Regency reveals that the beef population has reached 430,000 heads.As reported by Bone's Livestock and Animal Health Service, 711 livestock have tested positive for FMD and 15 cows have died.FMD cases are spread across 11 villages [5].Hence, measures to control FMD should be executed by the competent veterinary authority.Addressing viral diseases at the farm level can be achieved through preventive, reflective, and supportive veterinary services.Given the circumstances and conditions on the ground, farmers should endorse efforts to enhance animal health and livestock knowledge capacity.The breeder's knowledge, attitude, and application skills can be enhanced through consultation and discussion during technical guidance.Services provided encompass FMD vaccination, biosecurity training, vitamin injections, and treatment of sick cattle.This undertaking aligns with the government's livestock management program, as outlined in Agriculture Minister Notification No. 01/2022 [6].
Research has been carried out on farmers' understanding of FMD in various nations, such as [7] in Afghanistan, [8] in Kenya, [9] in India, [10] in Nigeria, [11] in West Kazakhstan (and [12] in Ethiopia.Nonetheless, there has been no investigation conducted on farmers' awareness of FMD in Sulawesi.Therefore, the purpose of this research was to identify the awareness of cattle farmers toward FMD in Sulawesi.

Materials and Methods
This research was conducted in the Libureng sub-district, Bone Regency with the reason that the population of cattle is the largest.The population in this study were all cattle breeders.A sample of 48 people was determined by accidental sampling.The sample consisted of cattle breeders whose cattle were infected or not infected with FMD.The data sources were primary data and secondary data.The questions in this study were open and closed questions.Data was obtained through observation and interviews using a questionnaire.Reference [13] stated that the Guttman scale was used which contained 1 for yes and 0 for no answers.To gather information from farmers about their concern for FMD and vaccination, some questions consisted: have you ever heard of FMD, have your cattle been infected with FMD, have the cattle been vaccinated, have farmers vaccinated their livestock every year?For the next questions, there were three choices: can vaccination prevent the spread of FMD?, are farmers willing to pay for the FMD vaccine?Can buying and selling livestock spread the FMD virus?The data obtained were analyzed in a quantitative descriptive manner using averages and percentages by using SPSS version 23.

3.1.
Socio-demographic and husbandry characteristics of the study The socio-demographic and husbandry characteristics of the study can be seen in Table 1.The majority of respondents were male (56.25%).This is because raising a cow requires a large and strong force to bathe the cows, provide feed, find grass, and wash the stables.As many as 87.5% of cattle breeders are of productive age.This condition is very supportive in raising cattle.Based on education level, the majority of cattle breeders are junior high school graduates.Experience in raising cattle is dominated by more than 10 years (60.42%).This shows that the breeder is quite experienced in raising livestock.Based on the number of family dependents, breeders are dominated by medium-sized families (56.25%).Concerning the number of cattle kept, the majority of farmers have 6-10 cows and are classified as medium (47.92%).

Awareness of cattle farmers toward FMD outbreaks and vaccination
Awareness of cattle farmers toward FMD outbreaks and vaccination can be seen in Table 2. Most cattle breeders had heard of FMD (41/85.42%).Cattle breeders respond normally because they think that the disease can be cured.If the percentage is above 50%, the information from the government and social media is good.FMD information is very important for farmers so that they can be anticipated in the event of an outbreak.
Even though only 18.75% of farmers have FMD-infected cattle, if isolation and vaccination of other cattle are not carried out, it will spread outside the area.Therefore the local government has implemented a lockdown in the sense that no cattle should be taken out or cattle from other areas entering Bone Regency.Besides that, cattle slaughtered with symptoms of FMD are carried out with compensation of IDR 10,000,000 per head.According to [14], this has been stated in the Decree of the Minister of Agriculture Number: 518/2022 concerning the Provision of Compensation and Assistance in Food and Mouth Disease Emergencies.The Ministerial Decree was stipulated and entered into force on July 7, 2022.
As many as 50% of cattle farmers had carried out FMD vaccination in the previous year.Even though only 50% of farmers had vaccinated their cows in the previous year, this was a good start to contain FMD outbreaks.Vaccination must be given intensively to prevent FMD.Every year farmers vaccinate their livestock with FMD (72.92%).This result was less than the research conducted by [15] who found that more than 91% of farmers indicated that their cattle are protected against foot-andmouth disease through vaccination, and more than 86% thought this was an excellent or very good precaution.The study demonstrated that despite not achieving the desired vaccination coverage, the large-scale FMD immunization program was highly received by participating farmers and was successful in halting the spread of the disease in Laos.According to [16], The main obstacle to vaccination was a lack of vaccine coverage in villages, whereas more than double the number of small ruminant farmers compared to cattle farmers and village chicken farmers said they did not know about immunizations and did not have the resources to perform them.In smaller villages, vaccine availability and vaccine providers were more limited.The willingness to immunize small Ruminants against footand-mouth disease (FMD) was related to the impact of FMD on sales and availability of information on vaccination.Accessibility of information on ND vaccination influenced willingness to conduct vaccinations among village chicken farmers.Belief in the efficacy of vaccination played a significant role in willingness to immunize both livestock and village chicken farms.Reference [17] argued that social and agricultural determinants of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) awareness and vaccination behavior were also identified.Reference [18] found that although 50% of the dairy farmers surveyed had prior experience with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), their views on FMD vaccination ranged from moderate to negative.In addition, there was no significant difference in FMD vaccination attitudes between dairy farmers with and without prior experience.
Farmers argue that vaccination can prevent the spread of FMD (91.67%).This shows that the farmer's knowledge of FMD is very good.This can be an example for cattle breeders in other regions.Cattle farmers were willing to pay for the FMD vaccine (87.50%).Even though the government has provided the FMD vaccine free of charge, due to limited vaccine stocks and resources, many farmers do not get the FMD vaccine for their livestock, therefore farmers are willing to pay for the cost of vaccinating their livestock.This was supported by [19] who stated that as farmers' perception of FMD's impact increases and they become more familiar with the vaccine, so does their willingness to pay.Farmers are enthusiastic about using the FMD vaccine, as evidenced by the high average WTP estimates.If formal FMD vaccinations are planned across the country, market-based farmers who are more willing to pay full costs may be more inclined to do so than mixed-crop cattle farmers.The use of vaccines as a means of disease prevention may increase with the implementation of Animal Health Extension materials on the effects of Livestock Diseases and Vaccines.
After the vaccination, the farmers thought that their cattle livestock had increased even though there was an FMD outbreak (87.50%).Reference [20] stated that among the farmers that responded, almost two years (2011 -2013) went by without any cow vaccinations.Among the farmers that were vaccinated, most of the cattle received annual or biennial vaccinations.No booster was administered.It was found that the FMD vaccine was only distributed through an inconsistent and limited government vaccination program.The research locations did not have access to any private FMD vaccination programs.
As many as 22 farmers (45.83%) did not know that buying cattle could transmit FMD.This ignorance can be caused by many factors, including lack of information and no access to information.Therefore it is necessary to conduct counseling for breeders in remote areas.Buying and selling livestock will accelerate the spread of the FMD virus because there is movement of livestock from one area to another.This research agrees with that of [21] who argued not all cattle farmers knew about the risk of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) re-influencing France, the path of infection, and the spread of the disease.

Conclusions
Based on this research, it can be concluded that beef breeders care about FMD cases.Even though cases of cattle infected with FMD are not high, it is better if the FMD vaccination program and education about the dangers of FMD need to be intensified.

Table 1 .
Socio-demographic and husbandry characteristics of the study

Table 2 .
Awareness of cattle farmers toward FMD outbreaks and Vaccination