One of South Africa’s largest feedlot groups, Karan Beef, informed its suppliers yesterday that it is imposing a temporary moratorium on purchases after foot-and-mouth disease was detected at one of its feedlots.
This development is a crisis for the entire red meat industry in South Africa and impacts the whole southern part of Africa.
Large feedlot operations purchase weaner calves from all over South Africa and prepare them for market. Sophisticated technology enables livestock traceability. At the same time, this means that infectious livestock diseases from across the country could converge at a small number of facilities.
This exacerbates the impact of a disease outbreak, even in remote parts of the country.
Although the strain of foot-and-mouth disease prevalent in southern Africa is not lethal, the disease is extremely dangerous and potentially devastating to the red meat industry in the northern hemisphere. For this reason, stringent measures are taken to prevent the disease from spreading across borders.
This is precisely why China imposed a ban on imports of South African red meat. At the time, the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) pointed out that the initial crisis in northern KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape had escalated into a national crisis.
With this most recent development, the crisis has deepened significantly. If a major buyer, such as Karan Beef, stops purchasing livestock, it disrupts the entire industry. This will drive down meat prices and force farmers to keep cattle on their farms at a time when there is less pasture seeing as it is winter.
For subsistence farmers, this could cause severe hardship, as they generally sell livestock in small numbers when they need cash.
South Africa had been free of foot-and-mouth disease for years. Onderstepoort provided vaccines efficiently and cost-effectively, and state veterinary services had data on every cattle herd across the country. Effective border control was also crucial in preventing buffaloes and cattle from neighbouring countries from transmitting the disease to South African cattle. These measures have basically disappeared.
More than 300 incidents of the disease were recorded in South Africa over the last five years. This prompted industry stakeholders to make proposals, as they believe the knowledge and technology to combat the disease are available.
But in their experience, the Department could not be bothered. Their proposals centre on livestock traceability and strategic vaccinations.
The next two to three weeks will be critical for the red meat industry. It is crucial for the Department of Agriculture to address the crisis with the urgency it warrants while involving all other relevant departments.
