The agriculture department has asked the Treasury for additional funding to combat South Africa’s devastating outbreak of foot and mouth (FMD) disease, its top official told parliament on Tuesday.
FMD is a highly contagious viral disease that primarily affects cattle, but can infect other livestock and wild animals. While it does not affect humans, it causes painful blisters in infected animals and lowers their productivity. Outbreaks have been reported in all nine provinces.
The department was “waiting with bated breath” to hear if it would get additional funding in the February budget, due to be announced by finance minister Enoch Godongwana on Wednesday, said director-general Mooketsa Ramasodi.
President Cyril Ramaphosa hinted at the possibility of additional funding in his state of the nation address (Sona) earlier this month, saying the government had classified FMD as a national disaster and would be “mobilising all necessary capabilities within the state” to deal with the crisis.
The cornerstone of the department’s response is a mass vaccination drive that aims to inoculate 80% of South Africa’s 14-million cattle by December.
“If we break the back of the current outbreak and meet our target … this could potentially be the last major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease that we have,” agriculture minister John Steenhuisen told parliament’s portfolio committee on agriculture.
The department has recorded 1,072 confirmed outbreaks of foot and mouth disease, with another 714 suspected outbreaks. KwaZulu-Natal and parts of the Free State, Gauteng and North West have been hardest hit, but there is growing concern about outbreaks in the Western Cape, which is one of South Africa’s key dairy production regions.
The government has been forced to import vaccines, as local production capacity is severely limited. One-million vaccines manufactured by Biogénesis Bagó and imported from Argentina arrived in South Africa at the weekend. The vaccination drive will target hotspots first, with KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State set to receive 200,000 doses each.
Further vaccine shipments are expected from Biogénesis Bagó, Dollvet in Turkey and the Botswana Vaccine Institute. On the domestic front, South Africa recently resumed production of foot and mouth disease vaccines for the first time in two decades.
The first batch of 12,900 doses was released by the state-owned vaccine manufacturing facility Onderstepoort Biological Products on February 6, and it is expected to increase vaccine production capacity to 20,000 doses a week by March, and 200,000 doses a week by 2027.
Business Day
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.