Durban - THE provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said it was keeping an eye on its borders after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed in Limpopo last week.
Spokesperson Phathisa Mfuyo said it would be particularly monitoring the northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal.
“We haven’t picked up any foot-and-mouth virus in the province. Immediately after hearing of the outbreak in Limpopo we intensified our inspections, especially in dip tanks. We will also be starting awareness campaigns to communicate with animal owners to be vigilant to ensure our province remains free of the foot-and-mouth disease,” she said.
Mfuyo said this as the national Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Daff) tries to contain the area where the disease was detected
In 2011, KZN experienced a foot-and-mouth outbreak in the Umkhanyakude district in northern KZN.
Daff spokesperson Khaye Nkwanyane said it had contained the latest outbreak of the disease in the Vhembe district in Limpopo. He said commercial farmers’ livestock were not affected by the disease but subsistence farmers were affected.
Nkwanyane said it first received complaints from subsistence farmers two weeks ago about their cattle showing symptoms of foot-and-mouth disease. As soon as they received the complaints, the department’s veterinarians were dispatched to the area to inspect the cattle.
He said the World Organisation for Animal Health became aware of the matter, and countries like Botswana, Swaziland and Namibia banned the import of South African red meat.
Nkwanyane said the disease was spread by buffalo who interacted with livestock at drinking places in the veld. He admitted there could be outbreaks in the future as livestock could easily cross the country’s weak border fence.
He said the disease originated outside the country, but was confident the disease would not spread and did not affect humans.
People who were affected were red meat producers. They said it would take a long time for them to recover from the economic impact of the disease owing to the bans on their products.
Gerhard Schutte, chief executive of the Red Meat Producers Organisation, said the outbreak and meat ban has had a devastating effect on meat producers and could cost the country as much as R6billion a year.
He said that in the best case scenario where everything was resolved quickly, it would take the industry about a year to recover from the outbreak. He had been receiving calls from concerned members about the outbreak. This was also not their only challenge. They also had to deal with rising maize prices.