New 10-year plan to combat foot-and-mouth disease

Agriculture minister John Steenhuisen this week unveiled a decade-long national strategy to contain and eventually eradicate foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), promising phased vaccination, strengthened surveillance and a return to international disease-free status.

However, some commercial farmers and agricultural experts warn that the plan is disconnected from the realities of fast-spreading outbreaks, vaccine shortages and weak implementation.

Steenhuisen acknowledged, at a briefing on Wednesday, the severe impact of the disease on South Africa’s livestock sector since the country lost its FMD-free status in 2019, saying farmers had borne “unprecedented challenges” as outbreaks spread across multiple provinces.

“I have received many pleas for help, from commercial to communal farmers, who

have borne the heavy burden of the recent FMD outbreaks in the country,” the minister said. “We see your struggles … I want to assure you today that we have a plan that is both realistically achievable and technically sound.”

Steenhuisen outlined a 10-year roadmap that would begin with stabilisation and consolidation before moving toward the eventual withdrawal of vaccination and final recognition of national freedom through vaccination by the World Organisation for Animal Health, the global authority on animal health.

Still, he cautioned that vaccination alone would not eradicate the disease. “Vaccination is not a silver bullet,” the minister said, describing it as one of several tools required to interrupt virus transmission and protect the national herd.

FMD is a highly contagious viral disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals, including cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. While rarely fatal, it causes severe production losses and triggers immediate trade restrictions, making it one of the most economically devastating animal diseases globally.

Phased vaccination strategy

Steenhuisen has appointed a ministerial advisory task team on animal disease, bringing together the country’s foremost authorities in veterinary science, biosecurity policy and livestock management to support what he described as ensuring a resilient and secure agricultural economy.

Central to the plan is a targeted vaccination campaign focused on high-risk areas identified through scientific heat-mapping of outbreaks. The aim is to reach at least 80% coverage in communal cattle populations and up to 100% in feedlots and dairy herds.

The goal is to reduce outbreak incidence by more than 70% in high-risk provinces within 12 months “through systematic vaccination and preserve FMD-free provinces through buffer vaccination and strict movement controls.”

High-potency trivalent vaccines targeting SAT1, SAT2 and SAT3 strains currently circulating in South Africa will be used.

Steenhuisen said partnerships have been secured with international suppliers, including Biogénesis Bagó in Argentina, which has one million doses ready for delivery once import permits are issued, with a further five million doses expected by March. Vaccines are also being sourced from the Botswana Vaccine Institute and a permit has been secured to import the Dollvet vaccine from Turkey.  

Local production is being activated through the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP), with initial output of 20 000 doses per week, scaling up to a potential capacity of nearly one million doses. The ARC, Steenhuisen said, could add a further 12 000 doses by mid-February.

All vaccines will undergo antigenic matching at the Pirbright Institute in the UK to ensure effectiveness against local field strains.

Surveillance, traceability

Beyond vaccination, the minister outlined expanded laboratory capacity led by ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, alongside strengthened surveillance and movement control.

A digital livestock identification and traceability system is being developed with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Red Meat Industry Services, enabling real-time tracking of outbreaks through a digital heatmap within a 10km radius of reported cases.

“Through the integration of advanced technology, we are no longer fighting this disease in the dark,” Steenhuisen said.

The current wave of outbreaks began in 2021 after the movement of animals from Phalaborwa to KwaZulu-Natal. Since then, SAT2 outbreaks have been recorded in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, North West, Gauteng and the Free State, with SAT1 and SAT3 also detected in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. 

The Northern Cape remains the only province never to have reported an outbreak.

Nearly two million animals have been vaccinated since the most recent outbreaks, Steenhuisen said.

‘Ring hollow’ 

Despite the breadth of the plan, a commercial cattle farmer active in organised agriculture said the minister’s assurances rang hollow.

“My farm is currently under foot-and-mouth disease restrictions,” said the farmer, who asked to remain anonymous. “I voluntarily reported the outbreak, in full compliance with the law, to protect neighbouring farms and the industry.

“For this, I’ve been handed a 12-month quarantine — a significant financial burden — yet the follow-up vaccination required by protocol has not happened because the country has run out of vaccine. This is not a logistical mishap; it is a failure of governance.”

The situation, the farmer said, raised serious concerns. “Are farmers truly incentivised to report outbreaks if compliance results only in economic punishment and there is no mechanism for containment?”

Phrases such as “clear road map” and “actionable strategy” may sound impressive, the farmer said, but “they are meaningless to farmers watching their herds destroyed, contracts cancelled and livelihoods threatened”.

Science-led approach

AgriSA welcomed Steenhuisen’s announcement of the strengthened national response, saying it reaffirms confidence in agriculture’s long-term resilience. The national strategy 

reflected a more coordinated, risk-based and science-led approach to vaccination, surveillance and movement control, it said.

It expressed strong support for industry-led interventions and encouraged deeper collaboration between commodity bodies, veterinarians, provincial structures and farmer networks.

“With sustained cooperation between government and industry, adequate resourcing and strong farmer participation, South Africa can stabilise outbreaks and work toward the recovery of internationally recognised FMD-free status,” said AgriSA president Willem de Chavonnes Vrugt.

Vaccine shortages, inequality

The cattle farmer warned that FMD was spreading at an unprecedented rate, driven by years of systemic inaction, ineffective oversight and a lack of decisive leadership. 

“Farmers, both communal and commercial, have been left to manage the disease largely on their own, with the state providing neither sufficient vaccine nor clear emergency measures.

“It must be acknowledged that provincial veterinary services are doing their best under extremely difficult circumstances. They are understaffed, under-resourced and stretched to their limits… The current crisis is not their fault; the responsibility lies squarely with the minister and the top leadership of the department of agriculture.”

Of particular concern was inequitable access to vaccines.  “Private sector operators, including commercial feedlots, have obtained vaccines to protect their operations, while the government — legally and morally responsible — cannot provide a single dose to communal or vulnerable farmers. 

“This creates a dangerous political precedent… This inequity undermines trust in the public veterinary service and demonstrates a profound failure of leadership.”

The farmer, too, criticised the lack of progress in domestic vaccine production. “I must also lament — as do farmers across the country — the sad reality that South Africa still cannot produce sufficient quantities of its own vaccine from the field virus strains we have locally.”

The lack of sufficient locally produced vaccines, combined with delays in imports, “leaves farmers powerless and the national herd exposed”.

Deep concern

Naudé Pienaar, the chief executive of Agri North West, said farmers remain deeply concerned.  “We understand the challenges but if you consider the fact that we had similar challenges a few years ago, it’s frustrating to see that we actually haven’t learned anything about the previous outbreak. 

“We appreciate the steps that were announced by the minister, but we need implementation; we need action. Cattle farmers and other farmers are suffering because of this outbreak and … it seems to be that it’s not a priority for our officials, our government, to sort out the FMD challenge … 

“We need our government officials to come up with an immediate implementation plan; not a dream of solutions for the future.” 

There are financial consequences for producers. “It’s a huge crisis and I don’t think people understand the effect that this has on the cash flow of farmers, on the way that cattle farmers or meat producers and their ability to survive … 

“They’re sitting with stock that is sellable, marketable but because of the foot and mouth they cannot do so and now they’re in trouble at financial institutions and agricultural companies because of their cash flow problems. 

“There’s a desperate need for the government to intervene and speak to banks and to agricultural companies to develop some sort of plan on how we can help our farmers survive.”

Pienaar added that the slow turnaround time at laboratories was unacceptable. “We cannot explain to farmers that it takes weeks for results to be sent back to them because of backlogs at a specific lab. 

“This is really a national crisis and we need to pull out all the stops now to make the turnaround time shorter and get implementation of a workable plan immediately.”

Frikkie Maré, the chief executive of the National Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (RPO) said it welcomed any strategy aimed at curbing the devastating FMD outbreak, but warned that confusion and uncertainty remained following the minister’s briefing. 

While broad objectives had been outlined, producers were still waiting for the details, he said, noting that since the briefing the RPO had received numerous queries from farmers who were no clearer on the way forward. 

Maré said the strategy appeared more like a “wish list” of goals and timelines rather than a concrete, implementable plan and raised concerns that meaningful consultation with major livestock commodity organisations had not taken place.

He also questioned whether the department was fully in touch with conditions on the ground, citing references to the Eastern Cape being under control despite new confirmed outbreaks and pending test results. 

The RPO, too, rejected claims that vaccines were available to the state, saying no doses were currently accessible to the department and that vaccinations would already be under way if this were the case. The only vaccines in use had been privately procured by feedlots and the dairy sector, underscoring what it described as a growing disconnect between official statements and the realities faced by producers, Maré added.