Last year was a generally good one for SA and the broader Southern African farming sector. We emerged from a drought and heatwave in 2024 and saw excellent harvests of crops, fruits and vegetables. Some countries in the region remained net importers of grains and other agricultural products from SA and the rest of the world.
But import needs were much lower than a year earlier, during a drought. In SA specifically, the broad agricultural sector recovery poses a challenge, however. Foot and mouth disease has remained a prominent feature of our cattle industry, imposing high costs on farming businesses.
It was only at the end of the year that the government announced its intention to vaccinate the 12.1-million cattle in the national herd. The logistics of this effort and the sourcing of the vaccines remain significant challenges. In a few days from now, when we all emerge from our holiday places, this is likely to be one of the preoccupations of SA’s farming sector.
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We have private sector companies that could produce vaccines and national entities, such as the Agricultural Research Council and Onderstepoort Biological Products, that must be rejuvenated to play this role. So far, we have relied on Botswana to supply us with foot and mouth disease vaccines. But the Botswana supply won’t be sufficient, and there are concerns about the vaccine’s potency.
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