About 90,000 head of cattle in the Eastern Cape have reportedly been vaccinated against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).
The province has more than three-million cattle so there is a long way to go. But at least it’s a start.
The government has sat on its hands since SA lost its FMD-free status in 2019.
The World Organisation for Animal Health warned that to reclaim that status SA had to enforce official surveillance, implement strict movement controls and incorporate systematic vaccination coverage that could be documented and verified.
Instead, the government waited until it became an epidemic affecting all provinces.
Last month, it finally declared FMD a national disaster and dug deep to get the vaccination rollout going.
But there has been little clarity on how the rollout will happen.
Communal and subsistence farmers in the Eastern Cape have already expressed fear that their cattle will not receive any attention or will be low on the government’s vaccination priority list.
Indeed, their voices are often not heard because they are not organised or empowered in the way that big agriculture may be.
While informal cattle, pig, sheep and goat farming may not contribute much to the country’s GDP, it is often a vital source of income and sustenance for communities.
FMD is a highly contagious viral illness affecting cloven-hoofed animals. Animals in communal herds are often left to roam free, which contributes significantly to the spread of the disease
Given that the Eastern Cape is predominantly rural and offers limited employment opportunities, the role of communal farming becomes even more important.
Unfortunately, as the name suggests, informal cattle farming is largely unregulated, and our incapable local governments do little to ensure that animals are tagged/branded or confined to specific communal grazing areas.
FMD is a highly contagious viral illness affecting cloven-hoofed animals. Animals in communal herds are often left to roam free, which contributes significantly to the spread of the disease.
The need for the vaccination programme to prioritise communal cattle herds along with those of commercial farmers is therefore obvious.
FMD outbreaks, whether on farms or in communal cattle herds, prevent SA from reclaiming its FMD-free status.
The government has indicated it intends to vaccinate at least 80% of SA’s cattle by the end of this year. It has suggested that this includes communal cattle herds.
But its plans are opaque. The national agriculture department and its Eastern Cape counterpart need to meet farmers across the province to make it clear how the rollout will happen and which areas are being prioritised.
It also needs to clarify how the vaccination of communal cattle will be documented so inoculated animals can be traced.
This is especially important because this primary vaccination drive is supposedly part of a 10-year inoculation strategy.
Vaccination without communication leads to fear and distrust. The government needs to improve its communication, especially to communal cattle owners, if the FMD vaccination drive is to succeed.
Daily Dispatch
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