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Following a stakeholder meeting regarding the foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in Humansdorp in the Eastern Cape, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) has decided to recalibrate its approach to managing the situation.
On Friday, 12 July, DALRRD’s director-general, Mooketsa Ramasodi, sent a letter to the new minister of agriculture, John Steenhuisen, in which he briefly set out the main discussion points. AgriOrbit also received a copy of this letter.
JOC workstreams identified
According to Ramasodi, a more structured and reorganised joint operation centre (JOC) has been established, which will include representatives from all stakeholders. The JOC will serve as an apex body and will be supported by three workstreams: disease control, trade and market access, and communication.
The disease control workstream will focus on issues such as matters related to alternative abattoirs, vaccination, movement controls, surveillance, science and technical justification, as well as the automatic revocation of declared status (reconsideration).
The trade and market access workstream will address both local and international market access, facilitating engagements with international trading partners. The communication workstream will ensure that all stakeholders are kept informed and aligned.
Read more about the recent FMD outbreak in Northwest here.
“We have also agreed to have a ‘burning issues platform’ that will ensure that urgent matters – especially those raised by industry – are fast-tracked,” Ramasodi wrote. Over and above the JOC, the workstreams and the burning issues platform, government will assemble a team to consider the legal and financial implications of the outbreak, Ramasodi concluded.
Industry welcomes new initiative
Dr Frikkie Maré, chief executive officer of the Red Meat Producer’s Organisation, was among 92 stakeholders who attended the meeting. He commented: “We welcome the department’s initiative to create a more structured JOC and hope that the new strategy will help curb the further spread of FMD and protect our national herd.”
Dr Mark Chimes, manager of Milk SA’s Animal Health and Welfare Programme, said the dairy industry was well represented at the meeting. “We welcome the formation of the JOC with the three distinct workstreams. We are particularly pleased about the formation of a ‘burning issues platform’ aimed at addressing urgent issues. These include the establishment of a FMD approved abattoir to slaughter FMD-positive animals, vaccinating a wider area of animals to hopefully stem the spread of the disease, and the issue of FMD-free animals vaccinated for FMD that are classed as FMD-positive.”
Dr Chimes added that Milk SA hopes and trusts that the JOC will be operational in record time since several issues need to be addressed with extreme urgency. – Susan Marais, AgriOrbit
