Foot-and-mouth disease affects industry
One new case of foot-and-mouth disease has been reported in January. Game and cattle farmers are holding their breaths for government to lift restrictions on the movement of cloved animals.
No outbreaks of foot-and mouth-disease (FMD) have been reported in the Mopani district.
Only one new case was reported in January, Reggie Ngcobo of the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development said. The total amount of confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak are 15.
The arrest last Monday of an auctioneer from Polokwane that moved livestock out of a FMD controlled area has led to a police investigation and panic that the disease might have spread. Ngcobo said that they are awaiting a report from the police but that state veterinarians have been dispatched to the areas where the suspected animals were moved. “So far it seems that the disease has not spread any further.”
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Piet Warren, well-known red-meat producer and game breeder from Gravelotte, said the price of red meat has steadily climbed since the restrictions on movement were announced. He said feedlots are beginning to run out of livestock.
Mr Steven Mohale, a local farmer with a herd of 300 cattle near Mooketsi, said to Herald that he has halted trading until the restrictions are lifted again. “At the moment we are only selling locals who do not move the cattle around,” he said.
The restrictions on the movement of animals are affecting the local game industry as well. Warren said that at the moment the industry is quiet as the hunting season is closed. He said that he hopes that the restrictions will be lifted by next month when the hunting season comes underway and the game auctions start. If not, it will have a negative influence on the game industry.
The Democratic Alliance’s John Steenhuisen has criticized the government in their handling of the outbreak. He said government’s belated response to the situation has been inappropriate and has wreaked havoc in the industry. He said road blocks and transport restrictions were lifted too early after the first outbreak in 2018 due to lack of finances to pay officials overtime. This has led to the second outbreak late last year. “Some estimate the losses suffered since this prohibition was announced to run as high as R10 billion,” Steenhuisen said.
He praised commercial farmers for fighting disease at their own cost.
“Among the hardest hit have been small scale and subsistence farmers who can’t always absorb the costs and who don’t always have the technology to access the online auctions that have replaced the traditional auctions while the transport prohibition is in place.”
FMD does not affect people therefore meat and milk from infected livestock is safe for human consumption,
