By Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of SA and author of ‘A Country of Two Agricultures’.
This article was originally published in FairPlay’s 2023 annual report. Please note that any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of FairPlay.
Animal diseases have become a significant global challenge. But few countries have had to deal with the intensity of these disease outbreaks — foot and mouth, African swine fever and avian influenza — almost simultaneously, as South Africa has had to do.
In 2022, about six of our nine provinces reported foot and mouth disease outbreaks. These outbreaks weighed heavily on the cattle industry since they led to the suspension of beef and livestock product exports to a range of markets for some time. Towards the end of the year, we learnt of the outbreaks of African swine fever, which put the pig industry under additional pressure.
These outbreaks also came as high feed prices — maize and soybeans — worsened farmers’ fortunes. As seen in the recent outbreaks, South Africa’s biosecurity breaches signal some serious capacity challenges in farm biosecurity measures and the country’s veterinary and related support services, such as laboratories and vaccine production.
Dominating the headlines in South Africa at the moment is the ongoing avian influenza outbreak, where more than a hundred commercial poultry facilities have reported cases. This widespread outbreak is hitting the industry, struggling with higher feed costs and import competition.
With maize and soybean prices recently softened, the poultry producers probably thought this would be a recovery year. Still, the intensity of the two strains — highly pathogenic H5 and H7 – have made the recovery path a pipedream.
With rising food inflation worries, the South African government has urgently had to
look into this challenge. There are a range of interventions that both the South African government and industry role players are exploring, such as the importation of fertilized eggs to rebuild the stock, enhancement of biosecurity to control the spread of the disease and accelerated vaccine development and registration to address the current strains of the bird flu circulating in South Africa.
But beyond the current avian influenza challenge, the South African government and organized agriculture and industry bodies should work together closely to address the country’s biosecurity challenges.
As climate change intensifies and disease is likely to be more prevalent, the DALRRD should consider earmarking a share of its annual budget for emergency purposes to deal with biosecurity.
These funds should be used under strict rules and in concurrence with the National Treasury only in the case of notifiable animal disease outbreaks. This will be necessary to control animal movements, procure vaccines, employ additional staff and compensate producers when animals must be culled, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health guidelines. Veterinarians and animal health technicians will be critical for continued surveillance monitoring and to offer advice to farmers.
Also necessary is the repair and maintenance of international fences, which, in their current state of disrepair, fail to keep wild animals and infected animals from neighbouring countries out of South Africa. Collaboration between the Department of Public Works and the National Treasury in this respect is critical.
Arguably, these are small measures in the context of the support received by farming industries in other countries. Ideally, one would argue that farmers receive some form of financial compensation for losses incurred after disasters such as this outbreak of avian flu, but there is no money for this.
The measures we have in place now are, realistically, the best options possible.
