HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Ostrich Industry (Almost) Free to Resume Exports

By Moyiga Nduru Reprint | | Print |

Moyiga Nduru

JOHANNESBURG, Sep 14 2005 (IPS) - The ostrich industry in South Africa has welcomed Tuesday’s announcement by Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Thoko Didiza, declaring the country free of avian influenza. However, it warned that this did not translate into an automatic resumption of ostrich product exports.

Last year, the European Union (EU), Hong Kong, Singapore and Mozambique banned ostrich imports from South Africa after an outbreak of avian flu in two of the country’s provinces. Before the ban, South Africa supplied about 70 percent of the world’s ostrich meat, producing around 1,000 tonnes a year.

“This devastating disease was discovered in ostriches in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces of the country last year. Thanks to the assistance of all the role-players and stakeholders it was possible for South Africa to eradicate this worldwide epidemic threat from the country,” said Didiza, in her statement.

“This extremely serious threat to the whole poultry industry has thus been curbed and South Africa has become one of the few countries in the world to have ever achieved this tremendous feat.”

The clean bill of health given to the ostrich industry was effective from Sep. 10.

“We are pleased that South Africa has been declared avian influenza free, although we still have to resume exporting,” Anton Kruger, manager of the South African Ostrich Business Chamber, told IPS.

But, “We don’t think we will resume export soon, because of the process involved,” he added. “South Africa and the European Union need to negotiate, at government level.” Ordinarily, the EU consumes 90 percent of South Africa’s ostrich meat.

Kruger’s statements were echoed by Steve Galane, spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs.

“As a country we have succeeded in eradicating the epidemic. But each country has its own process (for acknowledging this),” he said in an interview with IPS. “As far as we are concerned, (farmers and businesspeople) can start exporting with immediate effect.”

The ban did not affect ostrich skins, which are used to make handbags, shoes, jackets and other goods; feathers and egg shells were also exempt. These items constitute 65 percent of ostrich product exports.

“The ban was only on meat, live ostrich and fertile eggs that can be hatched,” Kruger explained.

Didiza said that South Africa would remain on guard against a renewed outbreak of avian flu.

“Surveillance testing will…be carried out in ostrich and chicken flocks at six-monthly intervals to confirm South Africa’s disease-free trading status for avian influenza,” she said Tuesday.

According to Kruger, 30,000 birds – 10 percent of the number exported annually – have been culled since the virus was detected in August last year, in a bid to contain the outbreak.

The ostrich industry has attempted to counter the effects of the ban by increasing local consumption of ostrich meat.

“We are pleased that local consumption has increased from five percent to 25 percent since August 2004,” said Kruger. Nonetheless, producers have still had to shoulder a loss of about 100 million dollars – while 4,000 jobs have been sacrificed.

This amounts to almost a quarter of the jobs provided by the industry before the ban came into effect: ostrich producers employed around 20,000 workers prior to the detection of the virus.

The avian influenza outbreak in South Africa formed part of a global pandemic which began in 2003, and forced the culling of millions of chickens in Asia. The virus has also killed about 57 people, in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, according to a report issued last month by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“Evidence shows that the H5N1 virus is now endemic in parts of Asia, having established an ecological niche in poultry. This risk of further human cases will persist, as will opportunities for a pandemic virus to emerge,” noted the study, entitled ‘Responding to the Avian Influenza Pandemic Threat’.

“Outbreaks have recurred despite aggressive control measures, including the culling of more than 140 million poultry,” it added.

While all bird species (and even pigs) are believed susceptible to avian flu, domestic poultry is particularly vulnerable – something which set the stage for the Asian pandemic.

The strain of the virus detected in South Africa, H5N2, is considered less severe than H5N1.