Foot and Mouth Disease crisis needs to be gazetted, in order to save jobs, unlock funds and resources to prevent a national disaster
It has now been estimated that close to 20 000 herd have been affected at five commercial farms due to the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Limpopo. The Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform’s (DARDLR) reluctance to effectively deal with this outbreak has caused large scale confusion and havoc, especially in light of its decision to impose a moratorium on livestock auctions in unaffected provinces such as Mpumalanga, Gauteng and North West.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) thus calls on the immediate gazetting of the FMD crisis, so that the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform, Angela Thoko Didiza, can unlock the funding and resources needed to empower the agricultural sector to manage this outbreak, and to ensure that it does not become a disaster across every single province.
By allocating increased funding and resources to the FMD outbreak, we can empower officials, police and the relevant agricultural personnel to better monitor procedures relating to the transport of animals in affected zones and provinces. With increased resources, we can ensure that infected animals in FMD outbreak zones aren’t moved into non-affected zones.
There is no doubt that an increase in logistical resources will result in the prevention of an uncontrolled spread of FMD throughout the country. Furthermore, it will prevent the red-meat industry from being prone to illicit sales of cattle or meat on the black market.
Furthermore, the DA has long maintained that the DARDLR should also implement the following steps immediately to contain the current outbreak and to prevent any future outbreaks: