US Cattle Restrictions Over Screwworm Threatens Belize’s Export Industry

New cattle import restrictions in the United States due to the presence of the New World screwworm in the region could severely impact Belize’s multi-million-dollar cattle industry. The US recently put a temporary ban on importing Mexican cattle due to the flesh-eating parasite. During this period, representatives from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are meeting with Mexican authorities to discuss Mexico’s efforts to combat the infestation. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise says that the company that imports Belizean cattle exports some of it to the US. Mexico detected its first screwworm case in November 2024, a month before Belize’s first detected case. However, while Belize now has only 160 cases, Mexico has more than 2,000. Minister of Agriculture, Jose Abelardo Mai, says that he hopes the US and Mexico can establish protocols for exports that will not include a ban.

Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture: “It is believed that the US will put more protocols in place so that to ensure that the flies don’t get further up north. At this time the fly is about 700 miles south of the US border and that has drawn serious concern for the US. The US has also announced and investment I think of $13 million dollars US in a sterilization plant and I think the dispersal of flies from Texas. So they are going to start to disperse flies fro that direction I’m being made to understand. But as the fly moves up north I think there’s greater interest in the US APHIS to try to do something different to contain the spread. From what we see Mexico has done a lot in controlling the movement of cattle in Mexico, moving from Southern Mexico into Central Mexico and north they’ve done a lot of work but it seems that the fly is beating them and so the US has I think stepped up their plan to try to control that now from the southern part of the US into Mexico. So we hope that Mexico and the US establish the new protocols quickly and that we work to contain the spread of the screwworm across Mexico and the US because any ban on cattle exports to Mexico in the future may affect us in the southern part of Mexico/Central America so to speak. So we’re hoping that that matter is solved at the earliest possible.”

Of Belize’s total 160 cases, the ministry notes that 55 of them are active cases.