Cape Town - There has been a fresh outbreak of avian flu on an ostrich farm near Oudtshoorn, and farmers in the affected area are on tenterhooks as they wait for tests to establish the virulence of this strain of the virus.
Depending on the outcome of tests, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries can rule that all the ostriches on the affected farm have to be killed.
As a precaution, the provincial agriculture department has placed the farm under quarantine and banned all movement of ostriches and ostrich products within a 3km radius. All ostriches in this zone will be tested.
The ostrich auction scheduled for Wednesday had been postponed indefinitely.
Western Cape Agriculture MEC Gerrit van Rensberg said it was not yet clear what impact the outbreak would have on the industry’s hopes to resume exporting to the EU.
In April 2011 a ban was imposed on exporting ostrich meat to the EU after an outbreak of avian flu. It is still in effect.
Local law and World Trade Organisation policy is that if one bird has the disease, the whole flock on that farm has to be wiped out. One outbreak of the disease also means the entire country cannot export ostrich meat to the EU.
Piet Kleyn, head of the SA Ostrich Business Chamber, said they believed the policy of blanket killing of entire flocks was not working. and other methods must be investigated. The organisation had employed an expert from New Zealand to do a risk analysis and make recommendations.
“Ostriches are farmed outside, not inside like chickens, so there is always going to be a chance they get infected. We need a strategy so we can have a sustainable industry but control the spread of the virus and reduce the risk. We’re working with government to try to change the policy of stamping out all ostriches,” Kleyn said.
He said part of a solution would be to develop vaccinations for the new strains of the disease. Another was to find solutions with South Africa’s trade partners that were acceptable to them. One of them was heat-treated ostrich meat which had undergone a process whereby pathogens were destroyed but the meat remained raw.
“They want a guarantee for the safety of the meat. Our heat-treated meat is still being exported… You can’t taste the difference. It is an excellent product,” Kleyn said.
The export ban has resulted in 50 percent of ostrich farmers leaving the industry, with job losses on farms and in related industries.
An extensive programme of killing ostriches was undertaken in 2011 and 2012 in a bid to stamp out the virus.
The killing programme cost the government around R60-million, which included compensation to farmers. - Cape Times