Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism
- Whether his department has a plan to deal with shortage of vaccines for livestock; if not, [a] why not and [b] how will this affect the agricultural economy of the province; if so what are the relevant details?
Provinces have no mandate to interfere into stock levels of vaccines. However, in anticipation of the shortages, producers were advised to procure supplies in time. In addition, information has been dispensed to assist producers to prevent and mitigate risks of contracting diseases.
[a] Onderstepoort Biological Products [OBP] is the sole manufacturer of vaccines. Their activities are governed through OBP Incorporation Act [OBP Act 19 of 1999]. The public entity reports to Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries [DAFF]. Provinces have no mandate.
[b] Failure to vaccinate and provide adequate immunity will render the provincial herd susceptible to diseases like African Horse Sickness, Rift Valley Fever, Brucellosis, Bluetongue and Anthrax. Should an outbreak occur, the agricultural economy may be affected as producers may experience live mortalities. Secondly their traditional markets may be affected as they may have difficulty in complying with phyto-sanitary guarantees as prescribed by our trading partners.
