TRADE PARTNERS GET ASSURANCE

SOUTH Africa has moved to assure its trade partners that contingency measures are in place to contain the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) affecting about 15 000 cattle in Limpopo. Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Daff) Minister Senzeni Zokwana said that Daff had started offering assurances to its partners for trade in products not posing risk of transmitting the disease. The products include heattreated meat and dairy products, deboned and matured beef, scoured wool, salted hides and skins, and livestock embryos. In a joint statement between Zokwana and the Red Meat Industry yesterday, the minister said a technical team of members from Daff and the industry would fight the outbreak; and that a trade committee would be appointed to engage with the foreign markets. He said the committee would look beyond the FMD by addressing market gaps and opportunities in the industry. He stressed that a team of veterinary services experts was on the ground conducting further investigations to check the extent of the outbreak in Limpopo’s Vhembe district. “The positive location is just outside the FMD Control Zone in the Free Zone without vaccination. It is in the high surveillance area of the FMD Free Zone,” said Zokwana. The World Organisation for Animal Health was notified last week about the outbreak. The minister said the impact of the outbreak to trade in the past week has been devastating and urged affected industries to work with Daff in minimising the impact. “This can be achieved if we all take responsibility to avoid unnecessary panic and stress, and by approaching trade partners for the necessary confirmations of trade of cloven-hoofed products to their territories,” said Zokwana. “The estimated number of cattle in the 20km around the affected village is 15 000. This does not mean all 15 000 animals are infected with the disease, but there is a risk that they may become infected through contact with sick cattle,” he said. “That is why they are being vaccinated.” | Luyolo Mkentane