The permit allowing South Africa’s first bird flu vaccinations has been welcomed by farming associations and the poultry industry.
The move was a crucial step forward for the poultry industry, Francois Rossouw, CEO of the Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI) told Business Report.
“From both a veterinary and agricultural perspective, this move strengthens our ability to prevent outbreaks, protect food security, and stabilise the industry economically. Breeding stock forms the foundation of poultry production,” he said.
Dawie Maree, head of FNB Agriculture Marketing and Information, said it was a positive step in the right direction and “long overdue”. While vaccination has been approved only against the H5N1 strain, and not the H7 strain, the approval was a least a start.
“South Africa and the producers can’t afford another devastating outbreak, especially in the breeding flock,” he said.
Izaak Breitenbach of the South African Poultry Association (SAPA), said that as bird flu was a controlled disease managed by the department of agriculture, the industry could not vaccinate when it wanted to, as it did against other diseases.
“Issuing the first permit for vaccination against HPAI (bird flu) to Astral Foods is a historically important event. To date, we could only rely on biosecurity and culling to control the disease, two processes that have proven ineffective against the disease, not only in South Africa but also in Europe and the USA,” he said.
Breitenbach added that the issuing of the first permit was the beginning of a process to do mass vaccination of all long-living chickens in South Africa to prevent the huge losses the industry suffered in recent years.
