KwaZulu-Natal has long been at the epicentre of South Africa’s foot-and-mouth disease epidemic, with 207 outbreaks of this disease reported across this province to date. The recent announcement of an enhanced strategy for managing the disease in KwaZulu-Natal has been met with mostly cautious reactions.

By Lloyd Phillips, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad

KwaZulu-Natal’s provincial Cabinet and the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (KZN DARD) have welcomed national Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen’s 10-year enhanced strategy for managing foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in South Africa.

The KwaZulu-Natal government says it will support and complement the strategy by developing specific interventions to bring FMD under control in this province.

According to the KZN DARD, the priority will be rolling out a province-wide mass-vaccination campaign against FMD, starting in February.

“The vaccines will be received in phases and will cover approximately 80% to 90% of the total cattle population of KwaZulu-Natal.

“Since the first FMD outbreak was recorded in Mtubatuba in May 2021, the KZN DARD has implemented extensive control measures and has vaccinated approximately 800 000 cattle to date.”

Thembeni kaMadlopha-Mthethwa, MEC of the KZN DARD, says demand for FMD vaccines is “extremely high”. As stocks of these vaccines begin arriving in KwaZulu-Natal, they will be directed for use across feedlots, dairy farms, commercial farms and communal farming areas.

Also read: KZN steps up FMD response with February vaccination rollout

When and Where to be Communicated

Details of the dates and locations of KwaZulu-Natal’s FMD vaccination campaign will be communicated in due course. Livestock owners are urged to cooperate fully with veterinary officials when this campaign starts next month.

Peter-John Hassard, president of the KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union (Kwanalu), and Angus Williamson, chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal Red Meat Producers’ Organisation, are both livestock farmers who have also been directly impacted by FMD.

They both cautiously support aspects of the KwaZulu-Natal government’s province-wide vaccination campaign against FMD. This includes the prioritising of feedlots and dairy farms for vaccination.

Hassard, Williamson and Thube Zondi, who is also a livestock farmer and is the secretary of the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa in KwaZulu-Natal (AFASA KZN), have concerns and questions regarding the state’s FMD vaccination campaign for this province.

Williamson, whose farm is currently one of many now infected with this disease, is wary of the efficacy of the FMD vaccines that the state will be administering across KwaZulu-Natal. He says that concerns have already been raised regarding the vaccines that South Africa has long been importing from the Botswana Vaccine Institute (BVI).

Cautious Reactions To Kwazulu-Natal’s Latest Fmd Management Strategy — South Africa’s animal health authorities are being called on to urgently submit samples of South Africa’s latest strains of foot-and-mouth disease to The Pirbright Institute in the UK. This will enable the manufacture of vaccines that are most effective against South Africa’s foot-and-mouth epidemic. Photo: Alamy/PA Images

“All vaccines, including the one from the BVI, must be checked against the latest strains of South Africa’s foot-and-mouth outbreaks that must be submitted to The Pirbright Institute [in the UK]. Once effective vaccines are available for South Africa, it is essential that the correct cold-chain and handling procedures are maintained from start to finish.

Also read: FMD | ‘The okes aren’t in a good place’ – southern KZN dairy farmer

South Africa’s Nationwide Vaccination Campaign Against Foot-And-Mouth Disease Must Ensure That The Required Cold-Chain And Handling Protocols For The Vaccines Are Strictly Maintained. Photo For Illustrative Purposes: Getty Images/Photoalto/Laurence Mouton — South Africa’s nationwide vaccination campaign against foot-and-mouth disease must ensure that the required cold-chain and handling protocols for the vaccines are strictly maintained. Photo for illustrative purposes: Getty Images/PhotoAlto/Laurence Mouton

Engagement and Choice Needed

“I also believe that livestock owners must be given the choice of which type of foot-and-mouth vaccine they want for their animals, even if it means they must personally pay for the vaccine doses. Another important thing is that plans must be made to ensure that there is sufficient stock of the vaccines that require follow-up booster doses. There have already been cases where livestock [that were] given an initial dose of vaccine, but not a booster because there was no more vaccine available, still contracted foot-and-mouth.”

Hassard says he wishes the state’s animal health authorities had listened to the advice from organised agriculture when foot-and-mouth first broke out in KwaZulu-Natal, and since then. Although he supports the vaccination campaign, he reminds both the state and all livestock owners that vaccination alone should not be considered the proverbial silver bullet to bring South Africa’s FMD epidemic under control.

“Biosecurity, movement controls and livestock traceability for everyone across the board are some of the aspects that are still essential even once widespread vaccination has started – especially because it is going to take a long time to vaccinate all animals across the country.”

In a brief response to African Farming, Zondi expressed concern that the KwaZulu-Natal government is developing its vaccination campaign without first having consulted with AFASA KZN, which represents the interests of numerous black livestock owners in this province, for its input.

“The KZN DARD will fail with its rollout of the vaccination campaign because it is politicising the outbreak. We request all livestock owners to communicate with AFASA KZN, since it has a group of animal health technicians [who] will assist the association’s members who are affected by foot-and-mouth,” he said.