Local poultry farmers fear being sitting ducks if another bout of avian flu lands locally

LOCAL poultry farmers are on tenterhooks amid the possible spread of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), commonly referred to as bird flu, that is usually transmitted by wild birds on their worldwide migration. 

The HPAI is known to be a highly contagious disease and know to carry deadly consequences for poultry.

When South Africa was hit by a bout of bird flu in 2023, the local poultry industry had suffered the loss of nearly 10 million birds, and many farmers were still recovering from that episode. 

While the virus has not been detected in the country, farmers fear that once it hits locally, the government was likely to be caught napping and without counteractive measures.

Izaak Breitenbach, from the South African Poultry Association (SAPA), said their industry would be devastated if there was a HPAI outbreak locally, possibly when wild birds from Europe fly to South Africa in winter.

Breitenbach told the Daily News that said the poultry industry would lose millions of chickens if that became a reality .

“If we have an outbreak, that will certainly cost the industry; we will lose millions of chickens, and it will all have to be recovered from the consumer, which we don’t want to do because we supply cheap protein to the masses,” said Breitenbach. 

He bemoaned the government’s steep bureaucratic biosecurity and protocols, arguing that many poultry farmers struggled to meet. 

Amid the heightened fears of a bird flu outbreak in the country, Breitenbach said the government would not be equipped to deal with it.  

“They (the government) have put biosecurity and monitoring protocols at a level so high that none of the poultry farmers could afford vaccinations,” he said.

Asked if the poultry farmers were ready for eventuality, Breitenbach gave an emphatic “no”.

“We do know that the biosecurity protocols and the culling protocols that we used in the past were not effective in 2023. It’s not effective in Europe and America. America has had avian influenza for three consecutive years. 

“We need something else. We need to vaccinate our birds. The government needs to intervene and put us in a position to comply with its standard and stringent protocols so that we can vaccinate,” said Breitenbach.

According to Breitenbach, in 2023, South Africa’s poultry sector suffered a devastating blow, culling over 9.6 million birds. 

The industry faced a minimum loss of R9.5 billion, and only began to recover last year. Farmers warn a new outbreak could be devastating.

According to Sapa, in South Africa, 90% of long-living poultry in the greater Gauteng area were either culled or died in 2023 owing to the inability of biosecurity and culling measures to contain the outbreak.

According to Sapa, a major challenge facing South African poultry farmers was not being compensated for culled birds, and so far, no farms have been granted permission by the Department of Agriculture (DoA) to vaccinate.

Industry leaders agreed that vaccination was essential, particularly after the devastating losses experienced from outbreaks in 2017 and 2023.

“With the potential to lose half of all poultry flocks again, the impact on the industry would be catastrophic, not just financially but also in terms of food security, malnutrition and environmental concerns from the destruction of large numbers of birds,” SAPA said in a statement. 

Another poultry farmer, Sifiso Mkhize of Gcwabe Poultry Farmers in Mayville, agreed with Breitenbach and said poultry farmers would bear the brunt of losses if there was an outbreak

“We fear that we will lose many of our chickens should the virus hit the country. We plead with the government to be ready to deal with any eventuality should the virus arrive,” said Mkhize. 

“We are still trying to recover from the past bird flu. We appeal to the government to protect us as poultry farmers by supporting us with vaccinating our chickens,” he said.

The spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture, Joylene van Wyk, said: “The department signed into effect the protocol on vaccination against HPAI in November 2023.  This Protocol outlines conditions under which farms will be allowed to vaccinate, and the main focus areas are biosecurity, surveillance and traceability.”  

“We are engaging with the South African Poultry Association to refine some measures in order to come up with a protocol that is practically implementable and workable, while ensuring early detection and managing the outbreak should a farm be infected.”

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