JOHN HUDSON: SA’s poor biosecurity a major threat to agriculture

While essential in ensuring food security for a burgeoning population, commercial agriculture poses many challenges. One is an increased risk of disease outbreaks due to livestock farming on an intensive scale where animals are in closer proximity more often than would naturally occur. Still, few countries have had to manage disease outbreaks to the extent SA has in recent years.

The consensus among various experts, including veterinary specialists, industry organisations and a government-appointed task team, is that the almost simultaneous disease outbreaks were driven by a variety of factors. They include a lack of knowledge about transmission and recognising symptoms; irresponsible movement of animals or in violation of regulations; and a lack of state oversight, vaccinations and awareness. 

The findings of the government-appointed task team published last year also highlighted major concerns regarding the management of and response to outbreaks of animal disease, which boils down to a lack of the capacity required to reinforce control measures, and little or no government funding. 

Myriad issues

The protocol for controlled diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and avian influenza is to place all affected farms under strict quarantine, culling surviving and poultry in affected areas and disposing of the carcasses as quickly as possible to restrict the disease from spreading.

Unfortunately, the system has critical weaknesses. The biggest is that state veterinary services don’t have sufficient resources to manage outbreaks effectively. Moreover, the state doesn’t compensate farmers for losses and they are reluctant to comply with orders to cull, resulting in outbreaks spreading beyond the farm gate.

Vaccines are also a challenge and after production lines broke down at state-run Onderstepoort Biological Products the industry experienced a severe shortage of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines. Surprisingly, avian influenza vaccines aren’t available in SA yet, though the department of agriculture, land reform & rural development says talks to finalise access are at an advanced stage and registration of those medicines is being fast-tracked.

According to sources in the veterinary industry, private companies or institutions should be allowed to produce critical vaccines as the legislative framework for registering vaccines is already in place, which means safety and efficacy will be monitored. 

Severe economic impact

That situation threatens the livelihoods of commercial and small-scale farmers, as well as the 500,000 people employed in the livestock industry. The disruption to local, national and international markets is a further concern. The beef industry accounts for a sizeable share of the SA agricultural economy. Beef exports contributed about 1% of agricultural exports in 2022 but declined 12% year on year according to data from Trade Map, primarily due to the temporary closures of various export markets after the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. 

The sheep industry was also affected. Trade Map data also showed that China, a significant market for SA wool, suspended imports in 2022, resulting in a 21% year-on-year decline in the export value of wool that year. The pig industry was also affected by foot-and-mouth disease, which led to Namibia — SA’s largest pork export market before August 2022 — closing its borders to SA pork products.

Until now foot-and-mouth disease hasn’t occurred in pigs, but fears that the disease could transmit to pigs destined for export prompted Namibia, which has an export market to the EU, to impose its current ban on SA pork.

The World Organisation for Animal Health removed SA’s foot-and-mouth disease-free status in 2019, and experts believe that regaining that status will take between three and five years and will require zero cases being reported, proper surveillance and visits by the organisation to ensure the necessary controls and management are in place. 

On top of the foot-and-mouth disease woes, the pig industry was put under further pressure towards the end of last year when outbreaks of African swine fever — a disease that remains a challenge — were reported. More recently, poultry livestock farmers have had to deal with avian influenza. According to media reports, about a quarter of SA’s flock died or was culled, and breeders of layers and broilers have suffered losses of about $25m (about R466m) thus far.

Aside from the billions of rand each disease outbreak costs the country, trust becomes an issue. No sooner have producers re-established trust in export markets than bans are reinstated after subsequent outbreaks. Ultimately, such intermittent supply will lead  international buyers to move to more reliable suppliers elsewhere.

Urgent solutions required 

Opinion seems to be unanimous about what is required to rectify the situation; government and industry need to accept accountability for biosecurity and collaborate to address the issues discussed in this article. The sad reality is pervasive mistrust and miscommunication between the private sector and state organisations. New and innovative thinking and setting difference aside are needed. 

Traceability is vital in managing livestock movements, but that won’t be the answer without solving the other issues. Furthermore, a national identification and traceability system in the livestock sector could cost about R200m and take as long as 10 years to finalise.

The lack of a reliable national disease control system leaves the assurance of food safety, agricultural financing and trust between consumers and farmers in the balance, with farmers bearing the brunt of the resulting financial strain.

The SA agricultural sector faces many urgent challenges, but biosecurity must be recognised as one of the most pressing — the country’s food security and export potential depends on it. 

• Hudson is head of agriculture at Nedbank Commercial Banking.