South Africa’s food security is under threat after a foot-and-mouth outbreak at its largest beef farm and a disruption to chicken supplies from Brazil.

Local producers are struggling to quickly ramp up production to meet growing demand, facing high feed costs, power outages and logistical challenges, Poultry News reports.

Immediate measures could include:

• Reducing reliance on Brazilian chicken and diversifying supplies;
• Providing financial support to local farmers, including subsidies for refrigeration, feed and veterinary services;
• Temporary measures to contain meat prices, including ration cards for vulnerable groups;
• Communicating import agreements, food supply forecasts and disease containment measures to avoid panic buying of meat;
• Focusing on alternative plant-based protein sources.

What happened?

South Africa has banned imports after an outbreak of highly pathogenic influenza at one of Brazil’s largest commercial poultry farms. To contain the spread of the virus, the country has launched its first mass vaccination of industrial livestock on its own farms, Poultry News reports.

The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) has purchased the vaccines and hired additional veterinarians on short-term contracts.

Three vaccines are currently registered in the country: the recombinant vector vaccine Vectormune® H5 (Ceva Santе Animale), inactivated Boehringer Ingelheim BEST H5 and inactivated Zoetis HPAI H5N1, Poultry Med reports.

The country has also launched a large-scale campaign to immunize cattle against foot-and-mouth disease. An outbreak of the disease was recorded on May 30 at the largest Karan Beef farm.

It is planned to vaccinate about 900 thousand cows and bulls. The first batch of drugs will arrive this week.

Tags: chicken