The rise in feed prices and the spread of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) to at least six of South Africa’s nine provinces for the first time in history, have challenged the country’s livestock industry. Both events have been costly to South African consumers and farmers.
Fixing this will require better management in interventions, better coordination, restructuring of the various departments, and investment, said Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz).
In his weekly agricultural market viewpoint, Sihlobo details the impact of numerous challenges faced by Mzansi’s livestock industry.
One of these was the rise in feed prices since 2020, especially for maize and soybeans.
“The rise in animal feed prices coincided with a worsening in consumers’ financial strain due to the damaging effects of the pandemic. Thus, we saw a decline in the demand for red meat products as consumers opted for relatively cheaper forms of protein,” Sihlobo said.
Exports swell despite FMD outbreak
FMD was another challenge for the industry, which brought temporary bans in certain export markets, extending to auctions and livestock movement, mainly cattle, for some time in 2022.
Despite the FMD-related export bans, South African beef producers sent sizable volumes of beef products to markets that did not close the import channel. Sihlobo said this is evident in the beef exports for 2022, which amounted to 28 422 tonnes (albeit down 12% from 2021), according to data from Trade Map.
“This is only mildly below the ten-year average exports. Fresh beef accounted for 54% of overall exports, while the balance was frozen beef,” he said.
“Within this total figure, a significant decline was recorded in frozen beef exports, which were at 12 945 tonnes in 2022, down 24% year-on-year. Meanwhile, fresh beef exports increased by 2% year-on-year to 15 477 tonnes.”
The outbreak of FMD also negatively impacted South Africa’s wool exports. China, which accounts for roughly 70% of South Africa’s wool exports in value terms, temporarily suspended South Africa’s wool exports in the second quarter of 2022 and only opened the market in the last week of August 2022, Sihlobo explained.
“The suspension happened despite a unique protocol to handle the wool shipments and avoid contamination during a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in South Africa. South Africa and China agreed on this protocol following the 2019 outbreak, which weighed on exports.”
This resulted in a 21% year-on-year decline in the export value of wool in 2022, to US$337 million, according to data from Trade Map. Still, this is significant, accounting for 3% of South Africa’s record agricultural export value of US$12,8 billion in 2022. Meanwhile, beef exports were about 1% of agricultural exports, valued at US$151 million in 2022.
What needs to happen
According to Suhlibo, the outbreaks faced in the last few years will not be the last.
Other industries that face the same challenge are poultry and piggery, which are susceptible to diseases such as African Swine Fever (ASF) and avian influenza, which typically come as a heavy financial burden for producers.
“South Africa’s inability to control the spread of disease in the recent outbreaks signals a failure in the country’s veterinary services and related support services i.e., laboratories and vaccine production.
“Therefore, government, along with organised agriculture and industry bodies, should closely work together to address the biosecurity challenges in the country,” Sihlobo remarked.
Dealing with animal disease outbreaks
As climate change intensifies and disease is likely to be more prevalent, the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development should consider earmarking a share of their annual budgets for emergency purposes to deal with animal disease outbreaks.
These funds should be utilised under strict rules and in concurrence with the National Treasury only in the case of notifiable animal disease outbreaks.
“This is necessary to control animal movements, buy vaccines, employ additional staff, and compensate producers when animals must be culled, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) guidelines,” said Sihlobo.
Furthermore, the process of authorising veterinarians in the private sector to deliver services on behalf of the State’s needs should be a priority. Also, veterinary services at the provincial level should be accompanied by effective livestock movement control functions.
Sihlobo said the repair and maintenance of international fences, which, in their current state of disrepair, fail to keep wild animals and infected animals from neighbouring countries out of South Africa and should be looked at.
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