11 September 2023
By: Carien Kruger
Highly contagious bird flu is wreaking havoc in the egg industry and could soon lead to empty shelves in northern parts of the country, says Dr Naudé Rossouw of Rossgro, an egg producer in the Delmas area.
“We really have a disaster on our hands, the biggest disaster the industry has ever faced,” says Rossouw, based on his estimate that 28%-32% of laying hens have been culled this year.
About 1.5 million hens were culled in the Western Cape and the virus is now spreading like wildfire in the Highveld region. Rossouw estimates the national figure for culled hens could be between 7 million and 8 million, from a national flock of about 25 million.
After the first outbreak of the H7N6 virus strain on the Highveld, a strain only seen in South Africa, “everyone fell like dominoes. It’s a very contagious form of the disease,” says Rossouw.
“We are very proud of the high biosecurity standards at Rossgro, but the disease spread on the wind. It could be because it started after the countryside was stripped, and there were no filters. Usually, the virus spreads about 3km in the wind, but here we’ve experienced it spreading up to 30km away.
“It’s very difficult to stop it. Our best hope is for nice, warm temperatures – the disease doesn’t like warm weather – and rain.”
Rossgro went through a tough time in mid-June when two of its farms were affected, and it had to cull about 60% of its laying hens. The company’s clients are in Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, and Rossouw says it cannot meet delivery contracts.
In the major outbreak of 2017, the Western Cape was hit hard but eggs in Gauteng were shipped there. “Now, the Western Cape is still recovering from its outbreaks earlier this year. No one can save us.”
Fewer chicks available
Rossouw believes it could take a year to two before the national laying hen flock recovers. “Many of the parent stock and rearing farms have also been affected,” he says.
“When an egg producer orders chicks, he normally waits six months under ordinary circumstances, but now the availability of chicks will be very limited.”
He thinks the South African market doesn’t realise what’s coming. “America had a terrible outbreak last year and lost 50 million of its 300 million hens. Egg prices there went up from $2 per dozen to $5, nearly 150%.”
Eggs are an important source of protein for South African consumers, who are already struggling.
Rossouw says the impact will be broader than just on consumers because the egg industry creates many job opportunities. The entire value chain will be severely affected, from farms to warehouses, truck drivers, the feed industry, and sellers of point-of-lay hens in townships.
Vaccination as the only way out
Rossouw believes there are only two possible solutions. One is for the government to act as quickly and decisively as in, for example, America.
“All the state does here is quarantine your farm; the rest you have to do and pay for yourself. Quarantine doesn’t help; the virus spreads. Emerging farmers don’t have the money to do what they need to, and commercial farmers have also had a tough time in the last two years.
“If the state had acted earlier when the outbreaks began here, things might have looked different. In America, the state acts quickly, destroys all chickens within a 10km radius and compensates farmers. That’s how they brought last year’s major outbreak there under control.”
With the South African government’s financial constraints and ineffective actions, Rossouw sees vaccination as the only other way out.
“China, Mexico and Vietnam have successfully vaccinated. It’s not terribly expensive and is a relatively straightforward solution. We all hope and await the outcome of negotiations between the South African Poultry Association and the government on vaccination. It is essential to save the industry.”
