A MAJOR POLICY STEP JUST HAPPENED. South Africa’s Minister of Agriculture, John Steenhuisen, has just announced that South Africa will now vaccinate the entire national cattle herd for Foot and Mouth Disease.
We are at the African Farmers Association of South Africa’s Conference, north of Pretoria, and he just made the announcement here.
What follows are my initial thoughts and reflections on this as I sit here in the conference hall.
The industry is at a crisis level, struggling to control the foot and mouth disease, and this step of vaccinating the national herd is a response to this challenge.
We have a national herd of around 7.2 million cattle. This means vaccinating all these cattle will be a massive undertaking.
Still, this decision is courageous, as it ensures that South Africa protects its cattle herd and can continue its focus on red meat exports.
The challenge now will be the logistics of this work, as well as reengaging the markets we export to about the step South Africa is taking at the moment.
Another vital issue is the sourcing of the necessary vaccines. Currently, South Africa is working to revive the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) to produce the essential vaccine. But the path must not end here.
We must ensure that other private-sector stakeholders are part of vaccine production. If we continue on this path, the private labs must be included, and this will be part of our theme of inclusion and working with the private sector.
Notably, the livestock and poultry industries account for half of South Africa’s farming economy. Therefore, this undertaking is at the heart of our farming economy.
I will have more to say on this at a later stage. For now, I view it as a courageous and correct policy step!
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