If the South African government does not appeal against a judgment that would force it to compensate a farmer for bird flu losses, it could face a flood of claims from other poultry producers. The total could run into billions of rand.
Last month’s High Court judgment overturned the basis on which the agriculture department has refused, since 2017, to pay compensation for chickens that farmers been ordered to cull in bird flu outbreaks.
The judge rejected the argument that sick birds have no value, and ordered the department to reassess a farmer’s 2021 claim on the basis of a fair market value.
The implications are huge, because millions of chickens have been culled in three outbreaks, the worst of which was last year, when more than 10 million chickens were culled.
News24 said the department was still in consultation with its legal team. If it did not appeal, that could “open the floodgates” for similar claims linked to bird flu outbreaks over the past seven years.
Izaak Breitenbach of the SA Poultry Association (SAPA) told the publication that the government could face compensation claims from farmers who had previously submitted unsuccessful claims, as well as new claims.
Breitenbach said the 2023 outbreak of the disease alone had cost the poultry industry an estimated R9.5 billion, and that claims against the department for the value of birds culled during this particular outbreak would probably amount to about 30% of that total.
Not included in their claims were the cost of replacing flocks or the actual cost of the process of culling poultry. Nonetheless, receiving some compensation would be welcomed by farmers who “lost a lot of money”, said Breitenbach.
