Farmer: listeriosis outbreak forcing pig producers into financial suicide

The People First Piggery in Rustenburg, North West, used to slaughter 150 pigs each month. It’s now down to zero.

Three months after products from a Tiger Brands-owned factory led to the world’s deadliest known listeriosis outbreak, creating pressure on pig farmers.

The industry has cut at least 2 000 jobs, pork prices dropped to four-year lows, and small farmers are at risk of closing down, industry groups say.

The People First cooperative, which buys piglets from larger piggeries and supplies local butcheries, doesn’t have any livestock left after co-owner Petrus Lepota decided against restocking because he was losing money by selling at current prices.

Lepota has had to cut staff and is wary of predicting when things might improve. “We can’t speculate. Ours is to pray.”

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on March 4 that an outbreak of listeriosis – that has now killed at least 208 people since the beginning of last year and infected 1 038 – was traced to ready-to-eat processed meat products.

Tiger Brands closed factories in Limpopo and Gauteng for cleaning and has recalled and incinerated more than 4 000 of its products. The plants will probably stay shut for the rest of this year.

The resultant slump in demand for pork caused a nearly 40% plunge in pork prices. Yet, farmers don’t have the luxury of delaying slaughter because of a risk that quality and flavour will deteriorate, said Richard Krige, who runs Desert Star Piggeries in Caledon, the Western Cape.

“The crisis is forcing pig producers into financial suicide,” said David Osborne, founder of Number Two Piggeries, one of the country’s larger suppliers.

“We are producing pigs at 2018 costs and selling at below 2014 prices.”

Job losses are a blow in a country with an unemployment rate of 27%. And eventual meat shortages due to farmers scaling down could push food costs up even faster, adding to inflationary pressure.

Some analysts predict that the industry will recover fairly quickly once the listeriosis threat subsides.