Gandhinagar, March 18 The Gujarat government has intensified its efforts to eradicate highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) through a massive state-wide vaccination campaign, with over 3 crore doses administered to livestock so far in the fiscal year 2025-26, officials said on Wednesday.
The state government has intensified efforts towards the national goal of an 'FMD-free India' with a large-scale vaccination drive across rural areas to protect livestock and support farmer livelihoods. A total of 3,04,40,916 FMD vaccines were administered in 2025-26 (as of now), an official release said.
FMD is a highly contagious viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals. India launched a vaccination-based FMD control program earlier, which was expanded in 2019 to cover the entire country.
Across Gujarat, hundreds of staff members from the Animal Husbandry Department and dairy cooperatives are currently deployed in villages, farms, and fields to ensure that all eligible cattle are vaccinated against the disease, the release said.
At the national level, the Government of India is implementing the Livestock Health and Disease Control Programme (LHDCP), a central sector scheme aimed at controlling and eventually eradicating major livestock illnesses.
"We launched a massive vaccination drive against FMD across the state on March 1, 2026. We conduct vaccination drives twice a year. The effectiveness of these drives can be assessed through the reduction in outbreaks and the decline in the circulation of the FMD virus, which is indicated by lower prevalence of Non-Structural Protein (NSP) antibodies in susceptible animal populations," said Director of the Animal Husbandry Department, Dr. Falguni Thakar.
She added that the state has reported very few FMD outbreaks in recent years.
Gujarat has recorded only a few scattered and isolated outbreaks of the disease over the past several years, and these have generally been less severe. Due to the vaccination program, sero surveillance results show that virus circulation has reduced to 3 per cent in 2025, while sero monitoring indicates that herd immunity has increased to 80 per cent, she noted.
"This reflects the positive impact of vaccination and improved biosecurity measures. Under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Gujarat is making remarkable progress toward becoming an FMD-free state in the coming years," Dr. Thakar added.
According to official records, two FMD outbreaks were reported in Gujarat in 2025-26.
A beneficiary who owns 32 cattle noted that Animal Husbandry Department teams visit for their regular check-ups and vaccination in his village.
"Keeping them disease-free is essential as my income depends on their milk productivity. Any disease could reduce milk production. Fortunately, every six months, teams from the Animal Husbandry Department visit my farm and vaccinate the animals free of cost," said 42-year-old farmer Jigar Patel from Lodra village under Mansa taluka of Gandhinagar district.
There are over 1,700 cattle in Lodra village, and vaccination against FMD is currently underway. Around 50 per cent of the cattle in the village have already been vaccinated," said secretary of the Lodra Village Milk Producers' Cooperative Society, Mahendra Patel.
Veterinarians explained that FMD is characterised by acute fever and the formation of vesicles in the mouth and on the feet of affected animals. The disease can lead to significant economic losses due to reduced appetite, loss of body weight, decreased milk production, reduced draft power, and abortions in livestock.
According to estimates, Gujarat has a cattle and buffalo population of over two crores, of which 1.71 crore are eligible for FMD vaccination.
Achieving FMD-free status would also significantly boost the potential for exporting dairy products to global markets, according to the officials.
The officials noted that animal diseases remain a major challenge to the growth of the livestock sector. Foot-and-mouth disease alone is estimated to cause economic losses of around Rs 24,000 crore annually in India.
Effective control and eventual eradication of the disease would help increase milk production, strengthen the livelihoods of millions of farmers, boost their incomes, and enhance exports of milk and livestock products in line with international trade standards, as per the release.