Poultry farmers remain uncertain about compensation for bird flu culls, as the government has yet to comment or confirm if it will comply with a court ruling.
Four months ago, South Africa’s High Court ruled that the government has no sound reason for refusing to compensate poultry farmers for chickens it orders them to cull during bird flu outbreaks.
However, farmers still do not know whether or not the government will abide by this decision.
The court order on 21 June 2023 rejected the agriculture department’s argument that no compensation is due because chickens infected with bird flu, or in contact with infected birds, have no value. It ordered the Department of Agriculture to reconsider a farmer’s R32 million claim on the basis that his culled chickens were “in a ‘healthy’ state”.
A lot more than R32 million is at stake. If the court’s decision is accepted, other chicken farmers will be lining up to claim for the millions of birds culled in 2017, 2021 and 2023. The poultry industry has estimated that losses due to bird flu in 2023 alone came to R9.5 billion.
So far, the department of agriculture has remained silent. Its lawyers are looking at the judgment, but no decision to appeal or to accept the judgment has been announced.
What is the delay?
