Steenhusien declares 'war' on foot-and-mouth disease ravaging livestock

Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen has declared war on foot-and-mouth disease that’s ravaging livestock in feedlots and dairies in several provinces.

He’s told Parliament that steps are underway to improve the country’s ability to produce its own vaccines after it lost the ability to do so two decades ago.

Steenhuisen is expected to make a national announcement on Wednesday on the strategy for the mass vaccination of the national herd.

Responding to questions during the debate on the medium-term budget in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Steenhuisen said adjustments had been made to the Agriculture Department budget to deal with the scourge of foot-and-mouth disease.

This includes partnering with the Agricultural Research Council to scale up vaccine production.

READ: Meat prices expected to stay high amid foot-and-mouth disease outbreak

“We do currently have vaccines, but they are obviously in short supply. We have orders in to have over a million vaccines delivered this month. We vaccinated over a million cattle in the last two months of last year and the intention is to wage war against foot and mouth by moving towards a vaccination-to-live strategy, which would see the vaccination of the entire national herd.”

Steenhuisen said that he’s confident in following the strategy of BRICS nations like Brazil.

“For the first time ever, South Africa now has a clear pathway towards FMD-free status without vaccination. It’s going to be a journey, but that journey has now begun.”