Red meat industry outlines role in tackling FMD as government intensifies response

The Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (RPO) has highlighted the significant challenges faced by the livestock industry in 2025 due to the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak, while outlining the role organised agriculture has played in supporting affected producers.

This comes as the Department of Agriculture announced it is intensifying efforts to combat the disease, which continues to affect large parts of the country.

Dr Frikkie Maré, CEO of the National RPO, said organised agricultural bodies are often questioned about why they do not intervene more directly during outbreaks. He explained that FMD is a state-controlled disease, which limits the scope for direct industry intervention.

“In short, the easy answer is that FMD is a state-controlled disease. This, however, does not mean that we did not do everything in our power to assist as far as possible during this pandemic,” Mare said.

He emphasised the role played by provincial RPO branches and Provincial Animal Health Forums, which are administered by the provincial RPOs. While animal disease regulations are set at national level, Maré said the responsibility for managing outbreaks lies with provincial governments.

“It is the self-appointed task of Provincial RPO’s to maintain constant communication with the provincial government.”

At a national level, Maré said the RPO quickly recognised that FMD posed a systemic threat to the entire livestock value chain. As a result, the organisation participated in a broader industry forum facilitated by the Red Meat Industry Services (RMIS), bringing together primary producers, stud breeders, feedlots and abattoirs.

"In terms of the National RPO, we very soon realised that FMD is an industry problem and therefore participated in the broader industry forum, facilitated by the RMIS, where primary producers, stud producers, feedlots, and abattoirs could speak as a unified voice," he said.

"Apart from the pressure and suggestions this team put on the table for the government, the first FMD Indaba could partly be attributed to them, as well as the Ministerial Task Team that was formed.”

Maré also highlighted the RPO’s role in stock theft prevention, noting that under a national SAPS instruction, the organisation hosts the National Stock Theft Prevention Forum, which includes both national and provincial structures.

He said a special meeting held on 18 November 2025 marked an important development, after the Minister of Police indicated his intention to reclassify stock theft as a priority crime. The forum submitted detailed information to SAPS on livestock marking practices, methods and associated costs to support this process.

Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen on Thursday expressed confidence in the country’s strategy to combat FMD, describing it as a “realistic and technically sound roadmap” aimed at restoring South Africa’s FMD-free status through vaccination.

“We need cooperation from the industry to ensure that we manage to control the disease within a short space of time,” he said.

“The Department of Agriculture has embarked on a new policy direction, FMD Free with Vaccination, which stems from the Bosberaad that was convened in July 2025 in collaboration with the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), where over 400 stakeholders from government, academia, industry and research institutions came together to path the way forward.”

Steenhuisen said that the Bosberaad recommended a phased, multidisciplinary approach, combining stronger existing controls with the Progressive Control Pathway Framework.

He added that following this he established the Ministerial Advisory Task Team on Animal Disease Prevention and Control.

“The team is finalising a strategy to reduce FMD incidents by about 70% in high-risk areas for the next 24 months; achieving 90% vaccination coverage in target animal populations in communal areas, commercial farms and feedlot areas and 100% vaccination in dairy cows. Certified compartments and progressive vaccination zones to facilitate safe trade will also be established.”

He added that certified compartments and progressive vaccination zones will be created to enable safe trade, and confirmed that close to 950 000 animals have already been vaccinated using government-procured vaccine stock.

FMD remains active in seven provinces — North West, Free State, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Western Cape, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal — with KwaZulu-Natal regarded as the epicentre of the outbreak.

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