Eastern Cape beef farmers suffer setback as foot-and-mouth disease outbreak announced

The Eastern Cape is now the fourth province that has been affected by the highly viral disease affecting cattle, footand-mouth disease (FMD).

The government said the outbreak occurred on a farm in Humansdorp.

“The problem could be more pervasive than what it is believed to be, given a lack of evidence of biosecurity measures,” Beefmasters Group supply chain executive Roelie van Reenen said.

“We, as the industry, are the only defence against FMD. The virus does not spread on its own. We spread it through negligence,” Van Reenen said.

According to reports, the affected farm has been placed under quarantine and a full epidemiological investigation has commenced. Surrounding areas have also been affected: The Kouga municipality announced the prohibition of movement of animals within its borders to mitigate the spread of the infection.

“FMD continues to be a threat. This is due to several factors, including the movement of animals from FMD control zones or hotspots to other areas, a breaking of the rules and regulations, insufficient vaccination coverage, and a lack of awareness,” Van Reenen said.

“Biosecurity measures have been proven to work in reducing the risk of FMD spreading, however, it only works if industry players enforce controls.”

He said one way to do this is to limit the movement of cattle, and, when buying cattle, to insist on veterinary inspections and sign-off.

Van Reenen said many industry role players had already gone to great lengths to limit or prevent the outbreak of disease, for example, with the installation of bubble or isolation hubs, but there is the opportunity to do more.

“This may include investigating the biosecurity measures that are in place and insisting that cattle are quarantined for a minimum of 28 days and signed off as disease free by qualified vets.

“No-one is safe from FMD and the only way we are going to tackle it is if we are serious and accept that we need strict measures in place,” Van Reenen said.

He adds that this will go a long way in protecting the beef industry, which is being touted to be a major future contributor to the red meat industry’s growth, and is expected to add more than R12bn to SA’s agricultural GDP per annum by 2030.

Recently Beefmaster Group announced that SA beef was now available in Saudi Arabia.

“Currently 4% of our country’s beef is being exported and increasing this would be very beneficial for the agricultural industry.

“The beef industry is in a slump and the entire industry needs to work together to unlock more export opportunities,” Van Reenen said.