SA’s efforts to control animal disease spread must be lauded

The past three years have been challenging for SA’s livestock and poultry industry because of the spread of animal diseases.

Throughout this period, we have had various cases of foot-and-mouth (FMD) disease in cattle, African swine fever in pigs and avian influenza in poultry.

While animal disease outbreaks are not unique to SA and indeed are common across the world, the country’s challenges have intensified in the recent past.

In 2022, six of SA’s nine provinces reported foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks.

This was the first time in the country’s history that the disease had spread this wide.

The challenging place SA found itself in prompted the government and industry stakeholders to increase their focus on strengthening farm biosecurity controls and surveillance.

Other interventions that are still under way include efforts to improve SA’s veterinary and related support services (mainly the laboratories) that deal with vaccine production needs.

The cost of diseases in the livestock industry is not only felt through loss of livestock, but also through reduced exports to the world market in times of outbreaks.

For example, he volume of SA’s beef exports volume for 2022 was down by 16% year-on-year to 26, 881-tonnes, according to data from Trade Map.

This decline was primarily due to the temporary closures of various export markets after the outbreak of FMD disease.

Furthermore, the sheep industry was also affected by the 2022 outbreak.

China, a significant market for SA wool, suspended imports.

The impact of those temporary closures is visible on export volumes of wool.

For example, in 2022, SA’s wool exports fell by 19% year-on-year to 42,239-tonnes.

The biggest decline in volume was in the Chinese market.

Livestock and poultry account for roughly half of agriculture’s gross value added.

Moreover, livestock also significantly contributes to the inclusion of black farmers in commercial agricultural production.

For example, the National Agricultural Marketing Council estimates suggest that black farmers account for 18%, 13% and 34% of wool, mohair and cattle production, respectively.

Therefore, the prevalence of animal disease outbreaks in the past few years slowed SA’s commercial agriculture, export ambition and transformation in the industry.

In 2023, as the government and industry continued with its work to control the spread of animal diseases, we saw a slight recovery in beef and wool exports.

For example, SA’s beef exports recovered slightly in 2023, up 3% year-on-year to 27,675-tonnes.

For wool, the engagements between the SA and Chinese authorities to reassure the Chinese traders of the safety measures in place to ensure that there was no spread of disease led to the resumption of exports.

In 2023, SA’s wool exports recovered 18% year-on-year to 49,715-tonnes.

On October 25 2024, the department of agriculture released even more positive news, which we believe will further support the recovery path of the industry.

The department announced that the “foot and mouth disease outbreak, occurred during 2021-2022, has been successfully resolved in the North West, Free State, Gauteng, and Mpumalanga provinces.

“These provinces, initially affected by the outbreak, have now completed comprehensive testing of animals on quarantined farms. The results indicate that the foot and mouth disease virus is no longer present.”

The department added that “the World Organisation for Animal Health has confirmed that the outbreak in these regions has officially been closed.

“However, it is important to note that the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape remain affected by foot and mouth disease outbreaks.

“Encouragingly, no new signs of the disease have been reported in these two provinces for the past month.”

This is admirable progress and further supports SA’s ambition of being a global player in red meat exports.

The successful path to the export markets involves addressing the biosecurity challenges.

Continuous efforts must be made to address the remaining challenges in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

In addition, the government must work collaboratively with the private sector to revive the efficiency of the Agricultural Research Council and the Onderstepoort Biological Products, which are key for vaccine production and various livestock disease management matters.

• Wandile Sihlobo is chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of SA (Agbiz) and a senior fellow at Stellenbosch University’s Department of Agricultural Economics.