A government-appointed task team says SA's veterinary and animal biosecurity systems are in a state of crisis.The task team warned in the report of how a broken system threatened the future of growth for sector. A government-appointed task team has warned in a damning report that the country's veterinary and animal disease controls are"broken" and in a state of"crisis" that threatens the viability of SA's livestock industry.
The report said the evidence of the broken system could be ascribed to"systemic issues, legislative constrains, budget problems, a trust deficit, non-alignment between stakeholders and execution and implementation failures". DA MP Noko Masipa also criticised the long delay in the release of the report, saying Didiza had initially promised to release it at the end of April last year.It was also"too little too late" for many horse and sheep farmers who have"already lost their herds because they were unable to vaccinate on time due to the shortages of the African horse sickness and blue tongue vaccines".
Other major problems were the non-availability of vaccines for notifiable diseases as well as the"non-compliance by livestock owners in applying on-farm biosecurity measures to prevent the introduction or spread of animal diseases". Some provinces such as Gauteng, the Western Cape and the Northern Cape"operate reasonably well with very good inspection teams, very good diagnosis and good laboratory systems", but other areas such as Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal were experiencing"systemic failures".
Among the recommendations, was one for the urgent establishment of an animal health biosecurity plan, which should"include alternative options to ensure biosecurity such as vaccination to control the spread of disease". It also said corrective actions had be enforced to"address the vaccine shortage created by the various problems and dilemmas" at the state-run Onderstepoort Biological Products facility. This facility is the only producer of African horse sickness and Rift Valley fever vaccine, as well as vaccines for blue-tongue disease, which mostly affects sheep and cattle.
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