FMD continues to spread across SA

The foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) situation in South Africa has reached a new level of urgency. While the country’s FMD-free status was suspended by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) a couple of years ago, it managed to reach agreements with its trading partners to continue the export of cloven-hoofed animals and their by-products.

However, with FMD having now spread from Limpopo to other provinces, including the Free State and North West, the situation is becoming more dire by the day. It was recently reported that China had halted the import of cloven-hoofed animals and their by-products from South Africa ( see page 16) after the OIE was informed of the outbreak of FMD in North West. Since then, as reported on the Farmer’s Weekly website on 7 April, there had also been an outbreak in the Free State. As the biggest importer of South African wool, it is expected that China’s ban will have a significant impact on wool producers.

As per the recent FMD information day held in Bothaville, these outbreaks are largely the result of some farmers not reporting or disclosing suspicious cases, and government not having the will or ability to implement strict movement control ( see page 20).

Another concern is the spread of brown locusts across South Africa ( see page 17), threatening crop production. This, too, according to some farmers and industry role players, is a result of government not responding effectively.

Following the recent outbreak of FMD in Viljoenskroon in the Free State, Gerhard Schutte, chairperson of the National Animal Health Forum, told Farmer’s Weekly that it was the result of the illegal movement of animals outside the FMD management areas in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal.

The movement of these animals is a direct failure of provincial governments to secure their borders effectively, and to monitor the movement of animals. Unfortunately, many industries will suffer as FMD continues to spread across the country.

South Africans have become used to poor service delivery and failing infrastructure; most of us drive around the potholes in our roads, for example, and those who can, employ private-sector companies to provide essential services.

However, we are largely powerless to deal with these threats to the agriculture sector, the economy and food security. In most cases, farmers do what they can, but they can only control what happens on their own lands.

South Africa has good regulations in place for dealing with animal diseases and pest outbreaks, but enforcement is poor. These regulations mean nothing if there aren’t enough capable bodies in government to respond accordingly to these and other threats. If government is serious about food security and earmarking agriculture as a key sector for employment and economic growth, it needs to take these issues seriously, by employing capable people and making sure that restrictions can be effectively imposed. However, I have not seen any significant indication that anything is likely to change in the near future and, as ever, government seems to be reactive rather than proactive.