Agri Dept plans to spend at least R1.8bn to fund vaccination campaign against FMD

The Department of Agriculture plans to spend at least R1.8 billion over the next two financial years to fund its mass vaccination campaign against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

Director-general Mooketsa Ramasodi said that the department will have to rejig its spending priorities to fund the programme.

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Two million animals have been vaccinated over the last year as the outbreak ravages livestock farming in five provinces.

On Wednesday, Minister John Steenhuisen announced the first phase of a strategy that aims to reduce outbreaks by 70% in hotspot provinces within the next 12 months.

South Africa lost its FMD-free status in 2019 after failing to keep up with local vaccine production.

Steenhuisen said that he can’t undo the past and the decisions that led to production virtually grinding to a halt.

Now he’s looking to Argentina and Turkey from which to import millions of doses of vaccines with the aim of reaching 80% of cattle populations within a year.

“I’m really calling on farmers and veterinarians not to use vaccines that don’t come through the official channels because you could end up essentially sparking a whole new FMD outbreak in South Africa that would be very difficult to deal with in the short to medium term.”

Ramasodi said there’s no specific allocation in the departmental budget to fund the vaccination programme.

“Most of the funds that will be utilised will be funds that will come from the department through a reprioritisation process.”

Steenhuisen plans to approach Cabinet soon to declare the persistent outbreak of FMD a state of disaster, which could then unlock emergency funding for the vaccination drive.