Minister of Agriculture, John Steenhuisen, has decried the country’s level of preparedness to deal with the outbreak of the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD).
This comes as the agricultural industry is reeling from the economic toll of the ongoing FMD outbreak, with losses that run into hundreds of millions of rand and threatened food security.
Speaking at the FMD Indaba on Monday, Steenhuisen said the disease has brought sobering lessons to light, exposing weaknesses in the response system during the most recent outbreak.
“What we saw was a response system stretched to its limits, with breakdowns in communication, severe delays in vaccine availability, confusion over movement controls, and an alarming lack of readiness at several levels of government. Farmers were unsure of the measures. Provinces were uncertain of the protocols.…
