Lecturer in Informatics at the University of Pretoria, Dr Tania Prinsloo says the foot and mouth outbreak could have been contained speedily if South Africa had a livestock identification and traceability system.
The outbreak which has since been contained, halted the export of products from cloven hoof animals such as cattle, pig and goats. Namibia, Botswana and the Kingdom of e-Swatini have suspended meat imports.
Prinsloo says she is concerned that South Africa does not have an identification and traceability system.
She says, “That is problematic because you cannot really accurately identify animals uniquely and you cannot trace their movement, so the problem is if an animal was in contact with one of the animals infected with foot and mouth disease and it was moved in incubation period and the movement is in track, it is very difficult to determine how many animals came into contact with other animals and how it spread from there.”
Prinsloo says the foot and mouth outbreak could have been contained speedily.
“It could have been managed much more effectively because if you knew each identified animal, where it moved to, you could of contained the disease much quicker, so you could say exactly which animals are affected, which came into contact with centralised water points or with other animals and you could of quarantined exactly the areas you need to, that would have been a lot more effective not completely preventing an outbreak but to contain an outbreak and to be declared foot and mouth disease free very quickly, ” she adds.
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Chief Director of Animal Production and Health’s Dr Botlhe Modisane has acknowledged that the country does not have a traceability system. However it has an identification system and is at a stage where they have drafted a policy to be able to legislate the traceability part.
He adds the outbreak is not caused by the fact that there is no traceability system.
“All livestock that are in the foot and mouth disease control zones are properly identified from a point of view of particularly zones that have been vaccinated, they are vaccinated and marked in such a way that they will be able to see if an animal is out of the zones.”
Modisane also says that there haven’t been any signs of the disease spreading out of the identified zones to date.
He reiterates that government together with stakeholders such as the police and traffic officers are doing all in their power to ensure animals in the outbreak zones don’t leave.
Meanwhile, Henk Visser, one of the many farmers who have been affected by the foot and mouth outbreak in Limpopo says the ban on exports has affected prices.
“My farm in general has been affected by the price of animals that have been slaughtered, the price dropped, now its 20%.”
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