Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
The red meat industry has grave cause for concern, with specific reference to foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). Everybody is nervous about the current situation and the future of the industry, their businesses, and employees. This was the message of Niel Venter, chairperson of the Red Meat Abattoir Association (RMAA), at the association’s 31st Conference and Congress at the Lord Charles Hotel, Somerset West.
Various industry matters were discussed during the conference, including animal health and specifically FMD, biosecurity, traceability, the need of a tracking and trading system, and residue monitoring. Venter said the industry needs a derisked environment to survive and grow. Derisking the environment is a tall order, but there is a willingness from all the role-players and the government to work together.
South Africa has to grow meat exports
Gerhard van der Burgh, senior analyst at the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (Bfap), said without growth in the red meat industry it will stagnate as an industry. He agreed with Venter that derisking is critical. The foundation of a derisked environment, is animal health and disease control in the country. That would safeguard trade and market access, and enable the value chain to participate.
“We need this in order to grow exports. We currently export 4,5 to 5% of production. The industry has to grow exports to at least 8 to 10% of production. Export would impact the whole value chain. Currently, the 4 to 5% has a massive impact in price support because input cost rose by close to 10% over the past six years. Without exports we effectively have a lid on our industry”, Van den Burg said.
FMD – think out of the box
Dewald Olivier, chief executive officer of the Red Meat Industry Services (RMIS), said the industry needs to rethink how it manages FMD in South Africa. The RMIS created a group of 40 veterinarians to guide them in writing a proposal for the National Department of Agriculture’s Directorate of Animal Health on what they think needs to be done. The document will be aimed at creating a platform for a discussion between the department and the RMIS. “The plan is our future. When it lands on your desks, take the time to study it and make suggestions to improve the plan,” Olivier said.
Vaccine availability is a big problem. “Currently, the industry and government are working closely together to solve this problem, but from the industry’s side we feel that we are not moving fast enough,” Olivier said. “We cannot wait weeks or months for vaccines. It has to be readily available.”
He said the South African red meat industry does not want a vaccine from the Botswana Vaccine Institute (BVI). It is too expensive and it is an old vaccine that was created in 1978. “We can do it ourselves. In the past we created our own vaccine which was better. We must develop and produce it once more.”
“No” to blanket vaccinations
Olivier said one of the questions that arises everywhere, is why the industry does not do a blanket vaccination of all the cattle in South Africa. “If that happens, stud breeders will have no market. Are we going to exclude them? The second factor that needs to be kept in mind, is that we don’t know how many doses of the vaccine we need. We think the national herd consists of 13 million head of cattle, but we have no idea if this is correct. Without a proper traceability and surveillance system we cannot start a blanket vaccination.”
The industry needs to find an alternative for blanket vaccination. Vaccination in compartments is one of the proposals, but the industry must determine what protocols to follow. There are still a lot of negotiations.
Industry must find its own solution
“We as an industry keep on kicking the ball back to government and asking them to tell us what to do. This is not the way to do it,” Olivier said. “Government doesn’t own the cattle, we do. We need to find a solution and present that solution. Obviously within die boundaries of the law, but we need to tell government what we want.” – Hugo Lochner, Plaas Media
