AGRICULTURE NEWS - The South African Poultry Association (Sapa) has welcomed the formalisation of bird flu vaccination regulations under the Animal Diseases Act, but says the system is still unnecessarily complicated and should be brought more in line with European standards.
The Department of Agriculture amended the Animal Diseases Regulations in June to create a formal vaccination framework for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
These changes followed an objection by Sapa that argued that the previous regulations had relied on culling rather than providing a practical and affordable solution. Former agriculture minister John Steenhuisen said the new framework would help protect poultry producers' livelihoods.
Some producers in the George area have also been affected by HPAI outbreaks in the past. George Moerasrivier Boerdery, a large egg producer, suffered massive losses in 2021 when it was forced to destroy 387 000 chickens and 5.3 million eggs, suffering losses of almost R32m. In 2024, the Western Cape High Court ordered the department to compensate the company after its claim had been rejected.
South Africa had devastating outbreaks in 2017, 2021, 2023 and again in June last year, when the department allowed vaccination, for the interim, under a permit system. The amended regulations provide a clear legal framework on how poultry farms must manage an HPAI outbreak, using a combination of vaccination, biosecurity and testing, making the need for widespread bird culling obsolete.
The department will run surveillance systems for HPAI, do laboratory testing and ensure that farming entities adhere to the new regulations.
Sapa's general manager, Izaak Breitenbach, said the new system is still "onerous" as producers must pay private veterinarians to conduct blood sampling, because the department lacks sufficient state veterinarians.
"We believe testing of flocks before they are sold live is sufficient to prove that the flocks do not have HPAI, but the department disagrees."
A concern often raised is that vaccinated birds could carry the virus without showing symptoms, making outbreaks more difficult to detect, but Breitenbach said the risk for that is low, since the vaccinated flocks will be monitored extensively. "Vaccination poses absolutely no risk to consumers. The parent stock is vaccinated and the broilers that we slaughter for consumption are not vaccinated."
George Herald has reached out to two large producers in the area for comment, but to date has not received any responses.
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