Agriculture Committee Hears About Department’s Plans to Vaccinate South Africa’s Entire Cattle Herd

The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture today received an update from the Department of Agriculture on the vaccination of cattle against foot and mouth disease (FMD), following an outbreak across the country.

The committee heard that the department is currently distributing a million vaccine doses to outbreak areas in the provinces, while a broader strategy includes plans to vaccinate the entire country herd of cattle against FMD.

KwaZulu-Natal is the leading province in FMD cases, with Free State recording increases, making it the second leading province after KZN.

KwaZulu-Natal and Free State have been allocated 200 000 doses each; North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo 100 000 each; while the Eastern Cape received 150 000. The department reported that the distribution of the vaccine is done according to risk. As a result, Gauteng received 70 000, while Northern Cape and Western Cape got 50 000 and 30 000 doses respectively.

According to department officials, the Western Cape and Northen Cape received fewer doses because at the time of distribution they had very few outbreaks.

In addition to the vaccination rollout, the department is also implementing movement restriction of animals and animal products from quarantined farms, and the disposal of high-risk parts of the carcass if animals are slaughtered.

The department is also implementing measures to identify and trace infected and vaccinated cattle. Surveillance measures are also being put in place to detect infection early, as well as requirements for the owner to obtain a health declaration prior to movement of cattle and 28 days isolation after movement of livestock.

Some challenges reported by the department include illegal movements of animals from affected areas, false health declarations, sending animals with clinical signs to auctions and abattoirs, insufficient state veterinary personnel on ground level and interrupted vaccine availability.

Committee members raised concerns about the inadequate implementation of control measures to prevent the movement of livestock from affected areas, stray animals that cross boundaries without any monitoring and, in some provinces, livestock that graze along the fences of reserves where there are buffaloes.

The Minister of Agriculture, Mr John Steenhuisen, strongly disagreed that the government’s response was reactive with no plans for future outbreaks. “It is reactive in terms of the current outbreak, but the broader plan is to vaccinate the entire herd. The strategy is to ensure that we are ahead, instead of chasing outbreaks. This could be the last major outbreak,” he said.

Committee Chairperson Ms Dina Pule thanked the Minister and his team for the update on the department’s response to the FMD outbreaks. “This is one of the priorities for the committee and we hope next week you will be able to update us how far are you with the vaccination in the provinces, including the engagement with National Treasuring on funding of the vaccination campaign,” she said.

The committee is also considering conducting oversight visits to the Free State following reports that cases are on the rise in that province.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.