MyZA

News, Directory, Events and Other Stuff

You are here: Home / News / Farmers Lose Trust in Communications from DALRRD

Farmers Lose Trust in Communications from DALRRD

Dear Editor

In a reply to a DA Parliamentary question, the Minister of Agriculture Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD), Thoko Didiza, revealed that her Department has spent R78 million purchasing foot and mouth vaccines from Botswana. This comes after the DA asked for reasons why vaccines cannot be procured in South Africa.

This revelation comes during the time when farmers are going through very difficult time resulting from poor maintenance of infrastructure at OBP. The facilities at the institution are no longer suitable for the production of vaccines needed by the sector.

The Democratic Alliance remains concerned at the slow pace of government’s efforts to restore confidence of vaccine production in the livestock sector. June month is the start of horse vaccination window. The industry was promised 40 000 African Horse Sickness vaccines doses by end of April month and to date there is no clear indication that the promised 40 000 doses are available for farmers.

The farmers no longer trust any communication from both the OBP and the department regarding the promises to address their challenges of vaccines. The Democratic Alliance shall be handing the petition soon to parliament to seek parliament to instruct the Minister and her Department to release African Horse Sickness and Rift Valley Fever Vaccines strains to private sector to assist with the production to safe livestock industry and protect our food security.

Considering that the vaccines procured externally get sold to Onderstepoort Biological Product (OBP) at unknown mark-up to another government entity Veterinary Services, the cost to government is way higher than the stated R78 million. Food security is under pressure because over the years, the important elements of the food system never received the attention from the government.

It is estimated that 40% of South African livestock is in the hands of black smallholder farmers, who use the livestock to ensure that their households are food secure. However, instead of these smallholder farmers getting allocation from government to make them sustainable, the government is spending millions of rands in buying vaccines which could’ve been produced cheaply locally.

Regards

Noko Masipa MP
DA Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development

Category: Tag:

If you feel strongly about this article then feel free to send MyZA a ‘Letter to the Editor’ using the submission form below:

Letter to the Editor

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
If this is in response to an article please include that article title here or as the lead in for the first paragraph of your Letter below.

Separate tags with commas

Localise your letter by naming the city your words are about. Add relevant words describing your subject. Single comma separated words of no more than 5
Your Name(Required)
Your Name will be linked to the website below.
Your personal, business or social media web site
Choose NO to not set up a user account on MyZA. User Accounts will allow you to submit letters under your own Author Name

3 Latest Letters to the Editor:

  • Fun South African fact

    Dear Editor Fun South African fact: towns like Franschhoek and Stellenbosch are home to world-class wine farms set in stunning, scenic surroundings. Regards Aressa Smith In Response to/From: Luxury Properties Seized in New Lottery Crackdown

  • Condolences on the Passing of Lusanda Dumke

    Statement by Leander Kruger MPL – DA Buffalo City Constituency Leader: The Democratic Alliance in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality mourns the passing of Springbok Women’s rugby player and Mdantsane trailblazer, Lusanda Dumke, who lost her battle with cancer at the age of 28. South Africa has lost an exceptional athlete, a leader, and a source…

  • Rape Kits Delivered, But…

    Statement by Nicholas Gotsell MP – DA NCOP Member on Security & Justice: The DA can confirm that 2 840 rape kits arrived in Cape Town on Monday, following sustained DA oversight and pressure after multiple police stations across the Western Cape were found to be without this critical forensic evidence tool. While this delivery…

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. I know that this is off-topic so I will just jump right in and say that MyZA Directory has been great for my business.

  5. I know that this is off-topic so I will just jump right in and say that MyZA Directory has been great for my business.

  6. Could you perhaps tell me which political party is the ruling party in South Africa?