As South Africa battles to contain a foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak that will have economic knock-on effects and hit exports, the elevation of biosecurity measures has become key, industry experts flagged yesterday.
Industry was reacting after the announcement by Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza on Tuesday to suspend all movement of cattle in South Africa due to FMD for 21 days.
Afrivet IAP executive Tony Willis said FMD had hit the feedlot industry at a time when it was under immense pressure due to the high cost of feed and supplementary products, the cost of weaners and other headwinds.
He said over the past three weeks, the feedlot industry had been significantly impacted by two confirmed outbreaks, one in the second-largest feedlot in the Eastern Free State with around 80 000 head standing capacity and another in Gauteng with around 45 000 head standing capacity, which amounted to 125 000 head.
The South African feedlot industry said FMD challenges, which affected around 25 percent of the national fat-calf herd, would seriously knock food security and prices in the coming months.
This as as it raised a red flag on biosecurity.
Afrivet said biosecurity was the only way that a feedlot could ensure that FMD was not spread. Of particular concern was that during a recent visit to two of the larger feedlots, over the past three weeks, there was no biosecurity being practised.
“Suggested practices would be to ensure that the vehicles are being sprayed when entering a feedlot and in the processing area where animals are processed on arrival. Further biosecurity measures should include the outside pens being sprayed on a regular basis,” it said.
Dr Peter Oberem, the managing director of Afrivet, said: “People can also spread FMD and it is an important component of biosecurity to not allow free movement of people on to your farm. Make sure that people who visit have not been in contact with FMD in the last five days.
“If we all pull together and follow these vital biosecurity procedures, not only will we ensure that our food security concerns are reduced, but we can also once again have critical FMD-free zones throughout South Africa,” Oberem said.
Meanwhile, FNB said, “The elevation of biosecurity measures including the use of technology for traceability is now an imperative for all stakeholders in the livestock value chain.”
The FMD ban was “obviously not good news” as it had negative impact on exports, FNB said.
This was due to FMD being a notifiable disease in terms of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and importing countries might elect to place a ban on imports as in the case of China.
China earlier announced a ban on the import of all cloven-hoofed animals and their products from South Africa to China as of April 1. China accounts for about 22 percent of total South African meat exports in 2021 and additionally, its share of local wool imports is more than 70 percent.
“Although a short-term measure, the suspension is still disruptive to the supply and demand dynamics in the country. However, persistent outbreaks will curtail the country’s export drive which is still a relatively small share of local production,” FNB said.
It also said there were huge economic consequences for producers and value chain industries from the potential loss of South Africa’s FMD free status if the situation was not arrested.
BUSINESS REPORT