South African poultry and beef producers will have to expand exports over the next decade to absorb production growth, but meat exports are hampered by inefficient management of disease outbreaks.
The critical importance of animal disease management is emphasised in the 10-year agricultural outlook Baseline 2024, published by the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP).
The comments follow years of warnings from the livestock industry and agricultural economists about the lack of state veterinarians and facilities to monitor and manage animal diseases and to provide the health certificates required for meat exports.
“One of the single largest drivers of growth of the South African agriculture and agroprocessing sector is to address animal health and overall biosecurity,” the report says.
“Domestic consumption growth is expected to remain slow due to weak spending power; thus, production growth will rely on further import replacement, which is limited, and expanded exports. The animal health system, an essential precondition to successful exports, is currently inefficient in managing disease outbreaks, which hampers productivity and limits export opportunities.”
The maintenance of existing as well as expansion of export markets remained South Africa’s best strategy for growth.
“Thus the single biggest enabler of growth will be South Africa’s ability to manage animal disease outbreaks as well as maintain adequate biosecurity standards fit for international trade.
“The world over, countries with functioning animal disease management systems have consistently enjoyed market access (and higher prices), while those that lack such systems have lost markets,” the BFAP stated.
A huge shortage of veterinarians in South Africa has left vacancies in clinics, especially in rural areas, and vets are leaving the country en masse, Business Day reports. About 100 veterinarians leave the country every year to work overseas, while only about 140 qualify a year, according to recent figures from the department of agriculture. Paul van der Merwe, president of the SA Veterinary Association (Sava), said the crisis was worse in rural areas, where there was often a lack of equipment or medicines, and clinics frequently closed down. “About 40% of the 455 state veterinary positions were vacant in 2023, according to an answer given in parliament by the agriculture minister. This is worse than the 35% vacancy rate in 2019. The situation is most serious in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal,” the newspaper said.
