Why South Africa’s foot-and-mouth disease outbreak threatens exports and jobs
Farmers are taking a knock because of the foot-and-mouth disease
Image: FILE
Foot-and-mouth disease has hit a Humansdorp farmer’s herd — and it has hit him hard.
Shaan Felix, a communal farm manager at Kruisfontein Emerging Cattle Farmers, said 58 of the association's cattle have been infected, with four already dead.
“It’s been tough,” he said. “We cannot afford this and we were supposed to take a batch of cattle to auction, where we would have made about R300,000, but now we cannot do that.”
Felix’s struggle with foot-and-mouth disease — a highly contagious viral infection that affects cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, sheep, goats and pigs — is not an isolated case.
And while the disease was not posing a risk to humans, agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo said its impact had been felt in the pockets of farmers.
He said once an area had been declared infected, strict control measures had been put in place.
Those measures included bans on the movement of livestock in and out of affected zones, the suspension of auctions, limits on slaughtering, and veterinary monitoring of herds.
In some areas, permits have been required to move animals, and biosecurity protocols tightened.
The outbreak formed part of a wider national crisis, with cases reported in several provinces.
Only Northern Cape remains free of cases, while major livestock areas in KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, North West and parts of the Western Cape and Limpopo have reported infections and movement restrictions.
The virus has disrupted livestock trade, stopped auctions and left both communal and commercial farmers struggling to cope, while also putting the country’s export markets at risk.
The crisis has also placed agriculture minister John Steenhuisen under pressure, so much so that he decided to step out of the DA’s leadership race to focus on what he called stabilising the agricultural sector.
Ahead of the State of the Nation Address on Thursday night, Steenhuisen called for the outbreak to be declared a national disaster.
At the same time, critics and some industry experts have called for his resignation, saying government has not moved fast enough to contain the spread of the disease.
With movement restrictions in place, Felix said they cannot sell or transport the animals.
“It is very difficult,” Felix said. “The costs are still there.”
He said vitamins and medication have had to be bought to support the sick animals.
One round of injections last week alone cost Kruisfontein Emerging Cattle Farmers R5,000.
“Because we did not go to auction, we did not plan for extra feed,” he said.
“We were depending on that money.”
Kruisfontein Emerging Cattle Farmers is a group of communal farmers — members of the community who use municipal land for their animals to graze.
Another communal farmer in the Kouga area, who did not want to be named, said the pressure has become overwhelming.
He said he had phoned the agriculture department’s suicide hotline twice in the past week.
The hotline is a mental health support service set up for farmers and agricultural workers facing emotional distress, financial strain and crisis situations.
It offers telephonic counselling and referrals for further assistance.
“I did not know who else to talk to,” the farmer said.
“This thing is heavy.”
He said two of his animals had already died.
Another communal farmer in the area, who asked not to be named, said the crisis had pushed him to the brink.
He said while his cattle were still alive, the uncertainty had been unbearable.
Each day had brought fresh worry about feed, mounting debt, and how long the restrictions would last.
“You wake up and you don’t know what you’re waking up to,” he said.
“The animals are there, but you cannot do anything with them.”
Milk Producers’ Organisation regional manager Anri Wolmarans said they had been waiting for vaccines.
“We are expecting it within two weeks,” she said.
The vaccines are needed to help protect uninfected herds and slow the spread of the virus.
Once livestock are vaccinated, they develop immunity and are less likely to catch and pass on foot-and-mouth disease.
SA has restarted local production of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines for the first time in more than 20 years.
The first locally produced batch consisted of about 12,900 doses.
The Agricultural Research Council said production was expected to increase to about 20,000 doses per week from March.
In the meantime, government has also secured vaccines from international suppliers.
The Botswana Vaccine Institute is expected to supply around 700,000 doses by the end of February, with additional shipments anticipated from other countries, including Argentina and Turkey.
Some provinces have allocated their own funding to support vaccine procurement and distribution.
The Western Cape government, for example, has set aside about R100m for vaccine purchases and related containment measures.
The KwaZulu-Natal government has embarked on a foot-and-mouth awareness drive ahead of a mass vaccination rollout.
Industry bodies have said that while vaccine supply was improving, demand remained high in affected provinces, particularly in communal farming areas.
Kouga mayor Hattingh Bornman said all affected animals in the region had been vaccinated.
Bornman said only communal farmers had been affected in the area.
Sihlobo said people can continue to enjoy their dairy products and their meat products.
"There are no risks," he said.
"Our food safety standards remain robust, and foot-and-mouth disease in general, including the strains present in SA, poses no risk to humans.
"There is a need to implement limitations on animal movement because the disease spreads, among other ways, through the movement of animals.
"The temporary curbing of animal movement is therefore in the interest of the agricultural industry, especially in the medium to long term."
He said limiting the movement of animals was important to help bring the disease under control.
"During this period of restricted animal movement, there will be strain on farmers’ incomes," he said.
"Some may have a larger carrying capacity on their farms than they typically would, and others will have to keep animals for much longer than they ordinarily would have."
Meanwhile, some farming groups and commentators have openly criticised Steenhuisen over his handling of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.
Organisations such as the Southern African Agri Initiative (Saai) and Free State Agriculture have threatened legal action to force changes to vaccine access and policy.
They said farmers should be allowed to procure and administer vaccines privately if state rollout is too slow.
"The scale of the crisis is clearly greater than what the agriculture department understands or has the capacity to manage," Saai's Francois Rossouw said.
"Trust in the department among farmers is currently extremely low."
On Wednesday, Steenhuisen appointed Dr Gary Bauer of Wildlife Ranching SA to the Ministerial Task Team responsible for managing the current foot-and-mouth outbreak.
The task team is one of the structures set up by government to coordinate policy, expert advice and practical disease control measures across the outbreak.
Its role is to help shape strategy on vaccination, movement controls, surveillance and efforts to restore market access.
The appointment comes after the removal of Dr Danie Odendaal from the same task team on Tuesday.
Steenhuisen terminated Odendaal’s membership after he allegedly refused to sign a required confidentiality and impartiality declaration.
Odendaal, a veteran ruminant veterinarian and respected livestock health expert, had been critical of aspects of the government’s response the problem, including its vaccine strategy.
Steenhuisen's spokesperson Joylene van Wyk said: "The minister’s strategy remains clear: SA will vaccinate the national herd in a phased, controlled and verifiable manner to regain FMD-free status with vaccination from the World Organisation for Animal Health."
Steenhuisen said: “The stakes are extremely high.
"If we do not get this right, the consequences for both livestock and wildlife will be long-lasting.
"But if we stay disciplined, science-driven and united, we can restore our status and protect the entire value chain."
IOL