While South Africa’s largest poultry producer, Astral Foods, has complied with government requirements for bird flu vaccinations, those requirements are still too strict and the poultry industry is trying to negotiate a less onerous set of rules.
This is the view of Astral CEO Gary Arnold, expressed during a radio interview with Kaya FM.
Astral is the first – and so far only – poultry producer to have been given a vaccination permit by the Department of Agriculture. The permit applies to a breeder farm in Gauteng, and Astral hopes to extend its vaccination programme to other breeder facilities around the country.
Astral has complied with the conditions published by the Department of Agriculture in November 2023, when poultry producers sought to vaccinate because of the devastating impact of the 2023 bird flu outbreaks, the worst in South Africa’s history.
However, no vaccinations have taken place, because poultry producers criticised those regulations as too onerous and too expensive to implement. The poultry industry has tried unsuccessfully to negotiate what it regards as a more practical and affordable set of rules.
Arnold said Astral was seeking permits for other facilities while those negotiations continue.
“We believe the conditions under which vaccinations are allowed are still far too stringent. However, that is a conversation that is ongoing between the industry and the (agriculture) department,” he said.
Asked about the cost of the vaccination programme, Arnold noted that no South Africa poultry producer had been able to get insurance against bird flu losses since the 2023 outbreak, when millions of chickens were culled.
He said vaccinating all breeder birds would cost more or less what the company would have paid in insurance premiums, had that been available. “It’s a cost far lower than losing all of your livestock.”
Arnold pointed out that the number of breeder birds – the parents of the day-old chicks reared for meat production – was far lower than the broiler birds processed weekly. The chicks would build up immunity and could survive bird flu infection.
While bird flu hit poultry producers, it also raised food security and job security concerns.
“We need to safeguard our industry,” Arnold stated.
