South Africa’s new agriculture minister, Willie Aucamp, is being praised by beef farmers for his efforts end the crisis which has developed over the vaccination of cattle against foot and mouth disease. Minister Aucamp should use his problem-solving skills to get poultry vaccinated against bird flu, says FairPlay founder Francois Baird.
Key takeaways:
- A proven track record: New Agriculture Minister Willie Aucamp is winning praise from beef farmers for resolving the foot-and-mouth disease vaccine crisis. FairPlay founder Francois Baird is urging him to apply those same problem-solving skills to the poultry sector.
- The cost of inaction: The 2023 bird flu outbreak devastated the poultry industry, costing R9.5 billion in losses, shutting down small producers, and destroying jobs – all without a single cent of government compensation paid to farmers.
- The regulatory impasse: Mass vaccination has been paralysed for two years because the department’s regulations are too complex and expensive for farmers to implement. While former minister John Steenhuisen promised revised rules, the industry has yet to see them.
- High stakes for food security: Chicken accounts for over 60% of the meat consumed in South Africa. Leaving the industry unprotected puts national food security and over 100,000 jobs across the poultry and grain supply chains at serious risk.
Bird flu devastated the South African poultry industry in 2023. No compensation was paid for the millions of chickens culled, despite laws requiring it, so industry losses totalled R9.5 billion, small producers closed and jobs were lost.
Vaccination is a key requirement to prevent a repeat of that disaster. Yet the poultry industry has been trying in vain to get a workable agreement with government that would allow a mass vaccination programme to get underway.
For the past two years, the department of agriculture has insisted in regulations that farmers say are too complex and too expensive to implement. As a result, only one pilot project has gone ahead on one site, but mass vaccination isn’t happening.
Former minister John Steenhuisen took the first steps to resolve this impasse, but the poultry industry has yet to see the revised regulations that have been promised.
This is where Minister Aucamp needs to step in and fix things, quickly. Without an agreement that will work for both the government and for poultry producers, bird flu will remain the poultry industry’s biggest risk.
Also at risk will be the national and regional economies, for the poultry industry is the largest component of the agricultural sector and the biggest employer in rural areas. More than 100 000 jobs are at stake in the poultry and grain industries, and the rest of the poultry value chain.
At risk too, will be South Africa’s food security. Chicken feeds the nation, and it comprises more than 60% of the meat consumed annually.
It’s a vitally important industry that should not be bound up in red tape.
