Red Meat Industry Services (RMIS) confirmed on 31 July that 2,5 million state-procured foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine doses have reached South African livestock producers. This announcement coincided with minister of agriculture Willie Aucamp’s address at the Octavoscene FMD symposium at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria, where he also appointed two new members to the Industry Coordination Council (ICC).
The doses, procured and paid for by the Department of Agriculture, were sourced from Biogénesis Bagó and Dollvet, and distributed via 114 veterinary practices to 1 289 GLN-registered production sites across all nine provinces. Allocation was based on criteria set by the Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (RPO), the Stud Breeders Federation (SBF), and the South African Feedlot Association (SAFA) and comprised 1,8 million doses to feedlots, 500 000 to commercial farmers, and 200 000 to stud breeders.
RMIS said the rollout, administered through its digital ordering portal and tracked from dispatch to farm level through a QR code, was the largest coordinated vaccine distribution effort undertaken in South Africa outside government veterinary services structures. The process rests on the RMIS traceability platform, which has surpassed 13 000 registered global location numbers (GLNs) and connects 18 livestock management systems already in use in the industry.
Aucamp’s strategy for an FMD-free country
Speaking at the symposium, Aucamp announced the appointment of Dr Theo de Jager, executive director of the Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI), and Dr Danie Odendaal, director of Veterinarian Network or V-Net, to the ICC. He said the ICC’s terms of reference would be expanded to place greater emphasis on rollout implementation, including provisions for producers now permitted to vaccinate their own animals as authorised persons based on a prescribed process. He also confirmed vaccine suppliers would be represented on the ICC on an ad hoc basis.
“Drs De Jager and Odendaal bring immense practical knowledge, leadership, and technical insight that will strengthen an already hardworking and effective council,” Aucamp said, adding that the expanded ICC, working alongside the ministerial task team on FMD, would help drive the national strategy toward an FMD-free country.
Aucamp said a total of 17 million vaccine doses had been imported into South Africa to date to support the national strategy. He urged livestock producers to register as authorised persons to vaccinate their own cattle legally. He also met on the same day with the Argentinian ambassador to South Africa and representatives of Biogénesis Bagó, who reaffirmed their commitment to a steady vaccine supply. – Nikilene Steenkamp, Plaas Media
