Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) restrictions in the KwaZulu-Natal Disease Management Area have been lifted, and government is now moving towards a unified national livestock movement protocol.
By Alani Janeke and Lloyd Phillips, senior journalists at African Farming and Landbouweekblad
Since the first Disease Management Area (DMA) was declared in KwaZulu-Natal in 2021, farmers in the province have operated under strict measures, including tight controls on animal movement.
Speaking at a media briefing in parliament on Tuesday, 5 May, Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen said the province’s farming community has been on the front line of a difficult battle against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) over the past several years.
“As the situation has evolved, so too must our strategy. Today, I am announcing the formal lifting of the foot-and-mouth disease restrictions within the KwaZulu-Natal Disease Management Area. This decision is not merely administrative; it is rooted in a shift in the epidemiological story of the province.”
Steenhuisen said that by 2026, conditions on the ground had changed significantly, with FMD outbreaks spreading more widely across the province.
“Ironically, our data now shows that the very areas inside the DMA have seen fewer outbreaks compared to the regions outside its borders. We find ourselves in a position where there is more evidence of the virus circulating in the rest of the province than within the restricted management area itself.”
He said government had to consider the human and economic cost of these measures. Farmers within the DMA have been heavily burdened by movement restrictions, facing challenges that their neighbours in other districts, and other provinces with similarly unstable infection patterns, have not had to endure.
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Countrywide Movement Control Protocol
Steenhuisen said government was moving towards a more modern, unified approach to dealing with the disease.
“We are currently developing a countrywide movement control protocol for all cloven-hoofed animals to ensure that every province adheres to the same rigorous standards. By publishing this rescission in the Government Gazette, we will be allowing our KZN farmers to move forward under a single, clear set of rules that protects both their livelihoods and our national agricultural integrity.”
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Response from AFASA
The KwaZulu-Natal branch of the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (AFASA) has welcomed the decision. Spokesperson Nkanyiso Hadebe says they are delighted that their members across the province will now be able to move their animals again, since for many farmers, buying and selling livestock is their bread and butter.
Concerns remain about vaccine availability, however, particularly for private black farmers, as this has not been adequately addressed. Hadebe says AFASA remains hopeful that the situation will improve.
AFASA will continue to engage with farmers, he says, encouraging them to care for their animals and to vaccinate them when vaccines become available to help fight this scourge.
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