What can government do to help our farmers?
Given an unbearably stretched fiscus, very little. But there are measures the state can take to ensure better biosecurity in the wake of three devastating disease outbreaks
Biosecurity breaches 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 outbreaks of foot and mouth disease. 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. ..
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