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.
