KwaZulu-Natal’s livestock sector is in crisis as foot-and-mouth disease continues to spread, threatening livelihoods and food security in SA.
Agricultural organisation Kwanalu has called on the government to declare a state of disaster, warning that without urgent intervention the damage could soon be irreversible.
Pietermaritzburg-based Kwanalu represents key commodity groups including pork, dairy, beef, sheep and game industries.
On Monday, it suggested the scale and speed at which the outbreak accelerated had overwhelmed existing containment measures.
Kwanalu CEO Sandy La Marque said the outbreak had far transcended KwaZulu-Natal, becoming a national crisis that posed a threat to businesses and jobs with 149 out of 167 active outbreaks reported in April.
“Small to mid-sized agricultural businesses face closure. The situation has eroded confidence in veterinary protocols and exposed systemic enforcement, administrative, management and other gaps,” he said.
As such, the organisation, with senior leadership from the SA Pork Producers Organisation, Milk Producers Organisation, Red Meat Producers Organisation, Wildlife Ranching SA and the National Wool Growers Association, have urged agriculture minister John Steenhuisen to support a request to the co-operative governance & traditional affairs department to declare KwaZulu-Natal a disaster zone.
Such a declaration would unlock funding, resources and capacity to strengthen enforcement and roll out containment efforts, including precautionary vaccinations, according to Milk Producers Organisation CEO Fanie Ferreira.
“We need a disaster declaration in order to open up the necessary funding and resources to implement a plan to combat the spread fast. In addition producers must be allowed to implement a precautionary vaccination plan, without penalty,” he said.
Despite containment efforts, the agriculture department confirmed in May that auctions, particularly the February event in Utrecht, had played a major role in spreading the disease due to noncompliance with biosecurity protocols.
Livestock sold at the Utrecht auction have since been traced to multiple provinces, including Mpumalanga, raising fears of a broader outbreak.
Angus Williamson, Kwanalu vice-president and chair of the Red Meat Producers Organisation, said the spread of the disease was severely disrupting farm operations, with markets drying up and producers facing financial strain.
“It is affecting the economics of doing business as farms are quarantined. Without effective control strategies it will become a nationwide issue,” he said.
Adding to the urgency, said Kwanalu, was China’s decision to suspended imports of all beef and related products from SA due to the outbreaks.
Kwanalu and its partners said they were doing all they could — supporting permit offices, lobbying for police assistance and co-ordinating among commodity groups — but they can only do so much without stronger national backing.
“We as organised agriculture are doing our best to get everything done, from supporting the permit office to appealing for SAPS and RTI support and other relevant resources, however we need more government support,” Williamson said.
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