There is a glimmer of hope that South Africa’s agriculture department might modify its bird flu vaccination requirements, addressing concerns that they are overly restrictive and costly.
The poultry industry has argued for months that the requirements that farmers must meet before vaccinations will be allowed are unnecessarily high. The result is that no permits have been issued and not a single dose of vaccine has been administered.
Negotiations failed to resolve the issue, despite the approach of the winter months when bird flu outbreaks are most likely. Stressing the devastating impact that a new wave of bird flu would have, the poultry industry has appealed to agriculture minister John Steenhuisen to intervene to break the impasse
Now an agriculture spokesperson has hinted at some flexibility in the government’s approach.
“We are engaging with the South African Poultry Association to refine some measures in order to come up with a protocol that is practically implementable and workable, while ensuring early detection and managing the outbreak should a farm be infected,” Joylene van Wyk of the department of agriculture said in an interview published in the Daily News.
That’s exactly what poultry farmers have been calling for. Whether there’s been a change of heart by those setting the rules remains to be seen.
