LETTER: ANC to blame for farm failures

As a livestock farmer of more than 50 years, I find the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak disturbing. This is a self-made disaster.

The ANC’s first minister of agriculture, Derek Hanekom, now of SAA, addressed a farmers’ meeting in Middelburg in the Eastern Cape in 1994. A packed hall expected to hear encouragement that agriculture was important, as farmers produce food in a country with huge climate and grazing extremes. Instead, we were told that the department of agricultural technical services was being shut down because it favoured white farmers.

This meant assistance with basic services such as soil analysis, farm planning and advice, stock inspections, tests for TB and brucellosis and inspections at stock sales would all be stopped. Onderstepoort vaccine production would also be cut back. Where is the recently ordered vaccine coming from for the 120,000 cattle in the one Karan Beef feedlot? Botswana!

We have no scheduled inoculation inspections, hence the latest disease outbreak, which follows the bird flu outbreak, which killed the ostrich industry, and the swine fever outbreak, which decimated the pig industry.

Diseases often start on our borders with other countries. These areas are usually farmed on a very small scale by local communities. When word gets out of a disease outbreak, these small-scale farmers quickly move their livestock to a relative in the neighbouring district not yet affected by the disease, before their area is put under quarantine. The result? The spread of infected livestock.

The shutting down of the ag tech services department has also been a big factor in many emerging farmer failures. It’s just another case of the chickens coming home to roost.

Peter Gordon Grant
Sedgefield

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