Fiji Today Fijitoday’s Blog

by Peter Firkin             peterfirkin@gmail.com

Cattle infected with Brucellosis have  now been found in Nasouri.
With the current profile of infection it is to be expected that most areas with a significant number of cattle will have Brucellosis abortus.

The last detected brucellosis in Fiji was in the 1980s and testing at the abattoirs should have shown the problem many years ago. The high results in many of the animals tested shows these animals have been infected for many years  and obviously been present since the 80s.  

 When Dairy Farms Fiji Limited first commenced in 2005 it purchased over 400 animals from all areas of the country with a significant number coming from Tailevu and Nasouri. Although these animals were tested for Tuberculosis there was no testing for any other diseases.

Why has Dairy Farms Fiji not tested  positive for brucellosis as if 10% of animals in Tailevu have tested positive then at least 30 animals at DFF should be positive. This figure could be much higher due to the intensive farming practices used.

 When DFF finally tests positive, and there are rumors that it will not be allowed to, then Occupational Health and Safety must ensure that there is no risk to the large number of staffs employed by the company. Such a large company must be a leader in protecting their staffs from diseases such as brucellosis and leptospirosis.

Although vaccines for leptospirosis are readily available and are a routine practice in their home country New Zealand they have, in the past, refused to spend money to treat their Fijian cattle to protect their staff.

 In New Zealand if a staff gets Lepto then the company is prosecuted by their Occupational Safety and Health Department with fines of over $10,000 being common.

 Having agreed to bring dairy farm “best practice” to Fiji the company is now using their staffs as cannon fodder to make a large profit. They have failed to meet any of the conditions publicized with much ho ha in 2005 as to  why they gained their cheap lease on the Viti Corps land at Navua. They have joined the list of other blood sucking companies that are slowly bleeding the Fijian economy dry.

 This Company has paid no income tax to FIRCA since their inception in 2005.

 We cannot expect this company to allow a large drop in its dairy numbers or to take the necessary steps to protect its staffs from the current disease outbreak.

According to one of their staffs they will use the current crisis to lay off additional Deuba  Villagers to reduce their costs further.

With its close connections with the Government and its Government appointed Director on Rewa Dairy Board it will be protected from any adverse effects of this crisis.