Agriculture
DA questions progress of FMD vaccine factory in South Africa─── ELSABÉ RICHARD 05:30 Wed, 06 Jul 2022
It has been about 15 years since the National Department of Treasury first allocated money for a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine factory.
This is according to the DA’s Noko Masipa.
According to Masipa, no progress has been made and the delay in the factory has a negative impact on the livestock industry. This, as outbreaks of FMD have been reported in five provinces in South Africa in the last year. This has led to China announcing a ban on the import of all cloven-hoofed animal products from South Africa.
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Masipa shares that the vaccine facility was endorsed by government in a bid to combat the outbreaks of the disease in South Africa, and to test the efficacy of the FMD vaccines before they are distributed to livestock farmers.
South Africa is currently importing FMD vaccines from Botswana, “and the question that you have to ask yourself is: What is the efficacy level of the vaccines that we are importing from Botswana?”
“FMD is endemic in African Buffalo in the Kruger National Park (KNP), as well as surrounding areas are declared an FMD controlled zone.”
Agriculture Minister, Thoko Didiza, revealed in an answer to a parliamentary question that was posed by the DA, that in addition to a R214 million budget allocation from Treasury to the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development in 2007/08, an additional allocation of R400 million was made in the 2019/20 financial year for this project.
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South Africa lost its FMD-free status from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in 2019 due to an outbreak of FMD in the country. Since then, government has been working hard to get South Africa’s FMD-free status back by collaborating with organisations such as the Agricultural Produce Agents Council (APAC), among other others.
Meanwhile, the DA has called for an investigation into why there is a delay in the completion of the facility. Masipa emphasises that FMD outbreaks have shown to have an undesirable impact on the country’s economy and results in the loss of jobs and billions of rands.
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