SA’s red meat industry at risk

The rain has brought with it relief for many farmers, while others have suffered severe crop damage. But there is another agricultural industry affected by the wet weather, which perhaps hasn’t received as much airtime: livestock.

With excessive rain comes an abundance of insect vectors that spread diseases such as Rift Valley fever. While the general response to this would be to ensure that your animals are vaccinated against these diseases, South African farmers are now apparently facing a shortage of vaccines. These vaccines are produced by Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP), a state-owned enterprise (SEO) mandated to produce animal vaccines in the interest of food security. While OBP has thus far denied there is a shortage of vaccines, reliable sources have confirmed that it does, in fact, exist. In an open letter to OBP, leading veterinarians in the animal health and red meat sectors, including Drs Pieter Vervoort, Alan Guthrie and Faffa Malan, have expressed their concern about the red meat and horse industries in 2022. In the letter, they say that this year could be a “bleak” one for South Africa’s sheep, cattle and horse industries, with “vaccine production [grinding] to a halt”, and “many animals that should have been vaccinated [by now] remaining unvaccinated”.

Although the letter goes on to list various reasons for the lack of production at OBP, the problem remains this: without adequate vaccines, South Africa’s national cattle and sheep herds, as well as exports, are at serious risk of severe damage. The red meat value chain is driven by the apparent health of its animals; even a small outbreak in a small area could have dire implications for the entire industry. This was most recently seen in outbreaks of foot-andmouth disease (FMD), which led to South Africa losing its FMD-free status a few years ago; this status has still not been recovered. Moreover, the livestock sector “still represents nearly 50% of the total value of agricultural production in terms of turnover”, the letter says, which means a drop in livestock production will ultimately lead to a loss of jobs and livelihoods. In a country like South Africa, where unemployment is over 30%, this is something we can ill afford.

In response to the letter, OBP spokesperson Zipho Linda told Farmer’s Weekly senior journalist Susan Marais that there was currently no vaccine shortage, and that “supply is sometimes delayed”. Linda added that there were adequate vaccines against vector-borne illnesses on the market, and that farmers were encouraged to vaccinate their animals accordingly.

Despite OBP’s assurances, I remain concerned about the red meat industry this year. The letter suggests the promotion of vaccine production by private companies in order to manufacture the required vaccines, with the monopoly thus moving away from OBP, and the responsibility being placed on the shoulders of private stakeholders. However, as with all SEOs, political will is a necessity for this to happen, and with government being particularly slow to act on failing SEOs (Eskom is a good example), it is unlikely that this will happen any time soon.

For now, farmers should be vigilant, looking for signs and symptoms of vector-borne diseases in their animals, and try to limit the number of biting insects on their farms as much as possible.