By Chris Burgess, editor-in-chief of African Farming and Landbouweekblad

I remember as a teenager, when a girl broke your heart or something similarly emotional happened to you, we would always go and ask our mother for advice. Her advice was always the same, and very simple: “Go and make a list of things to do,” because, she would explain time and time again, “getting something done always makes you feel better.”

She was right, of course. As a raw German who came to South Africa at the age of 21 without being able to speak a word of English or Afrikaans, work was the one thing she could always rely on. The one thing that could give her a measure of stability and control. Something she therefore considered absolutely noble.

In my opinion, one of my mother’s lists is exactly what South Africa needs right now. The list of things we need to get done if we want to move forward as a nation. A list of talking less and doing more.

Now that the way forward with foot-and-mouth disease, for example, is becoming increasingly clear, a list would be very practical. Especially since we should now know that we will never be able to stop foot-and-mouth disease; only manage it. This was especially clear after our African Farming colleagues spoke to a number of communal farmers this past week about how they are experiencing the impact of the disease.

The response was almost unanimous: It doesn’t even appear on their radar of concerns. Not because they are reckless farmers, but because animal health is not something they generally know much about. This is mostly because the outreach system that was supposed to ensure that it was a priority for them is almost completely broken.

For example, once upon a time there were communal dip tanks where communal farmers could take their cattle to be dipped and receive various other extension services at the same time. A very sensible idea that would have worked well in a normal society and by that time would have already made a significant impact on the well-being and production of almost half of the country’s cattle. Because that’s how many animals are roaming communal areas.

But the good idea of dip tanks, which could have played a crucial role in the management of foot-and-mouth disease, was swallowed up by a flood of corruption and dysfunctional provincial governance.

Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP) was also a good idea and for many years it was considered a world leader in, among other things, vaccine production. But then came the new dispensation and after a reasonably good start it was not long before OBP, like most of South Africa’s state institutions, began to falter under reckless mismanagement and corruption.

The solution that was then devised for OBP? Simply throw hundreds of millions of rands at the problem! This money, unsurprisingly, disappeared into thin air and today South Africa has to import foot-and-mouth disease vaccine from Botswana.

This is despite the ironic fact that the country may well have the capacity in the private sector to manufacture these vaccines locally. And then we’ll also keep our money in the country. However, it is clear that a proper list has never been drawn up for these problems, because if you work through the industries and make lists, it becomes clear how all the solutions in many cases already exist and just need the necessary boost.

But then we have to start making my mother’s lists.