Livestock disease such as foot-and-mouth has been brought under control in most provinces through strengthened farm biosecurity controls and surveillance. (Photo by: Peter Titmuss/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
After a few years of difficulties and a decline in exports, the progress in South Africa’s beef exports is heartening. In the first three quarters of this year, the country’s cumulative beef exports were up 25% from the same period in 2023, at $136 million.
The key markets include China, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Mozambique, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Mauritius and Seychelles. The exports are also up in volume, not just the price gains.
But I must first clarify: what were the problems confronting the South African beef industry in recent years? One was livestock health.
We had roughly three years of animal disease outbreaks across the country — foot-and-mouth disease in cattle, avian influenza in poultry and African swine fever in pigs. Sure, animal disease outbreaks are common across the world, but South Africa’s challenges have intensified in the recent past because of some biosecurity weaknesses.
In 2022, six of South Africa’s nine provinces reported foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks. This was the first time in the country’s history that the disease had spread this wide. This prompted the government and industry to increase their focus on strengthening farm biosecurity controls and surveillance.
Other interventions that are still under way include efforts to improve South Africa’s veterinary and related support services (mainly the laboratories) that deal with vaccine production needs.
The cost of diseases in the livestock industry is felt through the loss of livestock and reduced exports to the world market. This was the case in 2022, where exports declined notably (-16% year-on-year).
Livestock and poultry account for roughly half of agriculture’s gross value added. Moreover, livestock also significantly contributes to the inclusion of black farmers in commercial agricultural production. Therefore, the prevalence of animal disease outbreaks in the past few years slowed transformation.
The good news came only on 25 October 2024, when the department of agriculture signalled that the country had made excellent progress in controlling the disease. And yes, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape still face some problems.
The department announced that the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, which occurred from 2021 to 2022, has been successfully resolved in the North West, Free State, Gauteng and Mpumalanga. These provinces have now completed comprehensive testing of animals on quarantined farms. The results indicate that the foot-and-mouth disease virus is no longer present.
It is this improvement in the control of diseases that has partly contributed to the recovery in exports. This is an excellent work of industry and government.
Of course, the continuous promotion of exports by many great private South African companies, organisations, and industry representatives, such as Red Meat Industry services, is vital. We must work more strongly to open new export markets for the beef industry, especially in the Brics grouping, broader Middle East, and European Union, among other areas.
The robust exports in opening up export markets, promoting the South African great beef globally and domestically. Focusing on strengthening animal health are all vital for the progress of our farming economy.
Wandile Sihlobo is an agricultural economist.