3 August 2023
By: Fredalette Uys
The red meat industry aims to awaken the dormant giant of meat production by 2030, but several issues need to be addressed at grassroots level.
Charles van der Spuy, chairperson of the Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (RPO) in the Eastern Cape, believes livestock producers control only 40% of their business, while the macroeconomic environment takes care of the other 60%.
Addressing farmers during a recent tour of the province by the National Wool Growers’ Association, Van der Spuy said: “We want to see if we can reduce the 60% through productive negotiations so that producers have a greater say in their business. Input costs are currently high for producers.”
To address the macroeconomic environment, a particular focus will be on meat exports, as local farmers produce enough meat for domestic consumption.
“Any excess volume that farmers produce drives prices down,” said Van der Spuy, who added that this includes the export of live animals and even breeding materials.
According to Van der Spuy, the red meat industry faces several issues. The vaccines shortage was one of the problems in the past year, but due to cooperation between private companies and the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform & Rural Development, vaccines such as the bluetongue vaccine were made available through emergency registration under the Animal Diseases Act.
Another issue is the registration of livestock agents with the Agricultural Produce Agents Council (Apac). The national RPO provides input to make registration easier.
Van der Spuy said animal health status depends on Apac biosecurity regulations, and if they had already been in place, foot-and-mouth disease would not have been such a problem.
The export of live animals by ship from East London recently faced opposition from animal rights groups, but Van der Spuy said the ship would not have been loaded if the protocol for the export of live animals was not ready.
He urged farmers to pay attention to animal health and the way animals are handled, “or else we will have problems”.
Livestock imports from neighbouring countries such as Namibia and Botswana are a headache for farmers, but Van der Spuy said no more animals are being imported. More cattle were being slaughtered in South Africa, he said, indicating that farmers are producing more livestock this year. The industry is negotiating for a 40% ad valorem import tariff with the Department of Trade & Industry.
Agri Inspec’s services are used to apply border control and report livestock import irregularities to the South African Revenue Service.
Regarding traceability, the state is testing LITS-SA in KwaZulu-Natal’s emerging sector. Although the system is still being worked on, Van der Spuy encouraged farmers to register.
With various private service providers offering ear tags, farmers must ensure the tags they buy for traceability are registered with the International Committee for Animal Recording, said Van der Spuy.
He told farmers the RPO is involved in 160 committees, and about 88 laws affect the red meat industry.Cooperation between the RPO, feedlot and abattoir associations and the National Emergent Red Meat Producers’ Organisation is better thanks to the newly established Red Meat Industry Services non-profit company, he said. This means the new statutory levy is controlled by these primary industries and is used on a consensus basis.
