New Zealand funds cattle disease outbreak response

WELLINGTON, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand government and industry bodies are committed to jointly funding the response to the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak which is a widespread bacterial infection in cattle, a senior agricultural official said on Monday.

The funding of 85 million NZ dollars (61 million U.S. dollars) for operational and compensation costs for the outbreak response, beginning July 1, 2017, to the end of the current financial year, was approved by the cabinet on Monday, said Minister of Agriculture and Biosecurity Damien O'Connor, adding that 10 million NZ dollars was approved in December last year.

Since Mycoplasma bovis was found in New Zealand in July last year, the Ministry for Primary Industries has spent 10 million NZ dollars on the operational response and 2.5 million NZ dollars on compensation claims, O'Connor said, adding that industry bodies DairyNZ, Beef+Lamb New Zealand, and the Meat Industry Association have committed 11.2 million NZ dollars towards operational costs.

"This is a sign of a healthy government-industry relationship and allows us to continue to contain the disease to determine its full spread, keeping the option of eradication open until that decision is made in a few weeks," O'Connor said.

A total of 51 compensation claims have been received with 10 paid in part or in full, he added. (1 NZ dollar equals to 0.72 USD) Enditem