Latest news with #BiosecurityCouncil
Daily Maverick
08-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Maverick
Explainer: South Africa's chicken vaccine play may already be too late
South Africa is finally vaccinating its chickens, but unfortunately, it won't protect against the virus that's already shredded the industry. Here's the kicker in the Department of Agriculture's long-delayed greenlighting of mass poultry vaccination: Biosecurity Council proactivity will lead to the roll-out of H5 vaccines that can't protect against the H7N6 strain, the viral villain of the avian flu outbreak of 2023, the country's worst yet. A vaccine for the H7 mutation? Still 'in the registration process,' says the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. Meanwhile, the virus most responsible for wiping out nearly 10 million birds in 2023 is still loitering in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng, like a bad flu that just won't go away. Graphic by Yeshiel Panchia Don't panic, but it's endemic now, circulating in wild birds and on edge-of-recovery farms. And there's no shield against it, not even a metaphorical one. Wait, what is 'biosecurity'? John Steenhuisen has not explained that no farm has yet met the biosecurity protocols required to vaccinate against any strain, according to the South African Poultry Association (Sapa). 'Onerous' and 'prohibitively expensive' are the words the association is using. But this chicken-and-egg situation isn't new. It's the latest act in a decade-long outbreak drama that has seen small farmers bankrupted, prices skyrocket and government agencies perpetually one step behind. Nowhere is the policy and practicality mismatch clearer than in the agriculture department's long-standing 'nil compensation' policy. Graphic by Yeshiel Panchia Chicken and the egg The logic behind the concept introduced in 1984 was sound. In cases where animals are infected with a highly contagious disease, the government mandates their destruction to prevent further outbreaks. The argument for nil compensation is that infected animals have no market value and cannot be sold, making compensation unnecessary. However, the government must balance the interests of farmers with public funds. Paying compensation for infected animals could create financial strain, especially in large-scale outbreaks – especially when financial sanctions were hurting the economy (in 1984). To be fair, the 1986 amendment of the Animal Diseases Act provided for the possibility of compensation. So the move towards a 'nil compensation' policy for avian flu appears to be significantly influenced by the 2009 amendment to Regulation 30, which granted the director discretionary power over compensation amounts and the subsequent interpretation that diseased birds hold no value. A blunt instrument But this approach, cemented after the 2017 outbreak, has arguably done more harm than good. With no safety net, farmers have every reason not to report infections. The results? Delayed containment. Unregulated culls. And, in some cases, infected birds sold into the informal market. That incentive structure came under legal fire last year when a George-based farmer took the state to court over a R32-million loss from 387,000 culled chickens and 5.39 million eggs destroyed in a 2021 outbreak. In a Western Cape Division of the High Court ruling, the judge ordered the agriculture department to reconsider the claim, using the value of the birds in a healthy state as the basis. If enforced, it could open the door to billions in retroactive claims. But enforcement is the key word. As of mid-2025, there's still no confirmation that the agriculture department has changed its stance – or that it will. The future is viral Steenhuisen's department wants vaccination to be the foundation of a future-proof poultry sector. Which is fair, but vaccines alone won't cut it, especially when half the threat is unaccounted for. This is a virus that doesn't just travel across provinces. It migrates with birds, adapts, mutates and ignores borders. And the state's current selective vaccination, compensation and regulation playbook won't fix that. The new Biosecurity Council could help coordinate a smarter response. There's cautious optimism that weekly negotiations between Sapa and the agriculture department might produce more realistic vaccination protocols. The industry is pushing hard for a tiered, affordable system that doesn't just favour industrial-scale producers. But unless H7 vaccines become available soon, and unless the state offers fair compensation and support for biosecurity upgrades, we're looking at a future where avian flu is endemic and chicken is a luxury item. DM
Daily Maverick
06-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Maverick
Mass vaccination of SA poultry launched, Biosecurity Council set up
Getting a grip on these multiple threats to animal health and welfare and the agricultural economy is vital and the Department of Agriculture is clearly signalling that it is taking a proactive approach. The first mass vaccination of poultry in South Africa is being launched to contain avian flu as the agriculture sector also grapples with a spreading outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease infecting livestock that has been detected at the world's largest feedlot, in Gauteng. The Department of Agriculture also announced that it was establishing a Biosecurity Council as it strives to roll '… out a farm to fork national traceability system for livestock' and said it would upgrade the state-run Onderstepoort Biological Products, the main source of animal vaccines in South Africa that has been plagued in recent years by capacity issues. On the avian flu frontlines, Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen said in a statement that the vaccination team 'has received a list of farms to be vaccinated from the poultry industry and is prioritising high-risk areas and commercial flocks to contain the virus and prevent further culling'. Fifty animal health technicians have been roped in with short-term contracts to assist with the vaccination drive. Critically, the minister said that the department had 'secured vaccine supply' and that Onderstepoort Biological Products was being upgraded '… to restore vaccine self-sufficiency'. The Biosecurity Council will comprise the South African Police Service, veterinarians, scientists, the Border Management Authority, and the industry. Getting a grip on these multiple threats to animal health and welfare and the agricultural economy is vital and the department is clearly signalling that it is taking a proactive approach. South Africa's biggest avian flu threat currently is an outbreak in Brazil — the country's biggest external poultry supplier — which led to a ban on imports three weeks ago. Although the ban is unlikely to cause immediate shortages due to lower seasonal demand and available local supply, it has heightened pressure on domestic producers to manage outbreaks and reinforce biosecurity. The South African Poultry Association (Sapa) said in a statement last month that the ban should not lead to shortages and that the industry had the capacity to increase domestic output. Foot-and-mouth outbreak Meanwhile, an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among livestock has spread from KwaZulu-Natal to the Highveld, triggering a Chinese ban on imports of South African beef products. This export curb is seen as boosting domestic supplies, and possibly as a result local beef prices may trend lower. But livestock movements in the country are being disrupted and this will have consequences for supply chains. The Department of Agriculture said it had ordered more than 900,000 doses of vaccines to cover KZN, and the first batch was expected to arrive next week. Karan Beef said this week that a case of foot-and-mouth disease had been confirmed at its Heidelberg feedlot — the world's largest, which produces 100 million kilogrammes of beef annually. The company said in a statement that about 120,000 cattle were currently housed at the facility, and about 2% of the herd was infected. 'No animals are entering or leaving the Heidelberg feedlot during this period. Vaccination efforts are pending availability from the state. Once initiated, a 14-day vaccination programme will commence, followed by a 14-day observation period,' Karan Beef said. 'A controlled slaughter-out process will be implemented once vaccinations are complete, under veterinary supervision. No mass culling is planned at this stage.' The outbreak coincides with the peak weaning season, and Karan Beef said this would disrupt national supply chains. 'Farmers may be forced to hold calves longer than usual due to limited feedlot capacity,' it said. The Department of Agriculture has urged all livestock farmers in South Africa to '… limit animal movement as far as possible'. DM What this means for you For now, chicken shortages or major price spikes are unlikely. Local producers say they can plug the gap left by the Brazil ban, and winter demand is typically lower. Beef prices may fall because of the export curb, but domestic supply chain disruptions also loom. The situation underscores how fragile South Africa's food system is — one outbreak, one trade restriction, and supply chains wobble. For farmers, expect tighter biosecurity checks and more scrutiny around livestock movements — especially if you're near outbreak zones.
