The outbreak of ‘foot and mouth disease’ in the black area of Vhembe is a major blow to meat producers in South Africa, and has severely damaged the country’s good record.
Farmers feel dissatisfied with the way in which the government is working by only now making the vaccine available to the people of the area who themselves also do not care to their livestock.
What aggravates the situation is that the possibility exists that meat that has already been exported to other countries may be returned for fear of being infected. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries only started an immunization campaign, in a 20 kilometer radius around the black district, after two months.
Meanwhile, the rest of South Africa’s producers are being hampered by the export ban which will last indefinitely.
Read the original article in Afrikaans on Die Vryburger
South Africa Today – South Africa News
