In June 2021, the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development declared a disease management area (DMA) in KwaZulu-Natal to mitigate a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak. To update us on the issue, Dewald Olivier, chief executive officer of the South African Feedlot Association, joins us on today’s podcast.
South Africa’s FMD-free zone status has been suspended since 2019, a matter of deep concern to stakeholders across the country’s livestock industries. Olivier says that the latest outbreak, uncovered in May 2021 in KwaZulu-Natal, is still being monitored, and that there has been no significant change since the October 2021 report.
“The total number of affected locations remain at 29, comprising of 27 dip tanks and two feedlots. Movement control measures, according to the department of agriculture, remain in place on this reduced disease management area. The disease is, however, still present within this area.
“There also has been no change in their trade relations since the previous report. Most trade partners retained the agreements negotiated in 2019 following the loss of South Africa’s FMD-free zone status,” Olivier says.
So far, the department has managed to make some inroads into overcoming the outbreak. The DMA declared in June was reduced in September 2021, with the movement of cloven-hoofed animals still limited within the reduced area. Olivier explains that the continued surveillance done by the department has minimized the risk of FMD spreading.
“The only thing that has changed up until now is the fact that industry and the department of agriculture visited Mpumalanga to look at the situation [in that province]. [They looked at how] we would treat the possibility of the spread of the disease close to the Kruger National Park border. We can only accept that the department is doing everything in its power to curtail the spread of the disease.”
Currently there are still two feedlots under quarantine in the affected areas. Olivier says that one of the feedlots forms part of the South African Feedlot Association. “We are assisting him in negotiating with government to lift the quarantine since the extent of the FMD found in his feed lot was only serological and not clinical. The tests only indicated that they were serological positives, but there was never an active virus circulating within any of the feedlots that tested positive.”
Olivier advises livestock farmers, feedlots and dip tank associations to be as vigilant as they can about the cattle they interact with. He says that these entities should do their own surveillance and they should contact state veterinarians as soon as they suspect any hint of a positive FMD case.
“At the end of the day, do not mix cattle that comes from an unknown source or unknown owners. And ensure that your cattle are traceable so that if something happens, the authorities and the industry can immediately understand where that cattle comes from.”
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