Avian Influenza outbreak: stakeholder engagement (with Deputy Minister); International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

Meeting report

Opening remarks

The Chairperson welcomed the members, the representatives from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD), and the South African Poultry Association (SAPA) to the meeting. He said there have been challenges around the Avian Influenza outbreak in the poultry industry in the country, and the Committee decided to invite the industry representatives and the DALRRD to a meeting to provide an update on the extent of the crisis in the country and what has been done to prevent the spread of the Influenza and further loss of chickens and eggs in the country.

The Chairperson invited SAPS to brief the Committee on the impact of the outbreak in the poultry industry.

South African Poultry Association (SAPA) Presentation

Dr Abongile Balarane, General Manager: Egg Organisation, SAPA, presented on the global and South African Avian Influenza situation. He said HPAI outbreaks were relatively quiet during the Northern Hemisphere summer months, with most of the outbreak cases reported in wild birds. Brazilian cases reported were also all in wild birds, but there must be a risk of commercial poultry infections. There have been many cases reported in South Africa, some H5N1, mostly in the coastal areas with more severe outbreaks of H7N6 in the inland areas centred around Gauteng. Drakenstein reported outbreaks in 6 epidemiologic units; 1 in pullets and 5 in commercial layers (2 of them being free range flocks).

The H7N6 strain of the virus was first isolated in South Africa on a farm in Mpumalanga and officially reported on 1 June 2023. To date, more than 5-million-layer hens and broiler breeders have been culled, with an additional 3.5-million-layer hens that are affected by the H7. About 2.5 million broiler breeders are already culled.

Some of the solutions to the problem would include the fast-tracking of the approval of the Avian Influenza (AI) vaccines, the fast-tracking of the importation of fertile hatchery eggs, as well as the fast-tracking of the importation of liquid and powder eggs. Namibia could also provide an alternative market to supply South Africa with table eggs, but unfortunately, it will take about 17 months to recover the lost production in South Africa.

The H7N6 strain of HPAI has proven very difficult to control using conventional biosecurity approaches. While biosecurity remains an important part of any AI control strategy additional tools are needed. On 11 September, the Director of Animal Health agreed that vaccination against avian influenza would be allowed in South Africa. Since then, a lot of work has been done to make this a reality, the process has not progressed as quickly as one might have hoped when we started – but a lot of work is needed before vaccination can begin.

The H7N6 strain of AI occurs only in South Africa and is not closely like any other AI strains in the rest of the world – this means that the few vaccines that have been developed against H7 may only have limited efficacy against South African strains. Before these vaccines can be registered, they will need to be carefully assessed and may even require local trial work to confirm their efficacy, this may delay their registration. Locally produced vaccines are being developed but this is a process that will also take some time to complete.

Mr Izaak Breitenbach, General Manager: Broiler Organisation, SAPA said the Broiler industry is in financial distress due to load shedding, water supply interruptions, infrastructure failure, inflation in energy costs, and high food input costs, and now the bird flu. In 2017, 2.5 million birds were culled due to the H5N8 strain, while in 2021, 3 million birds were culled due to the H5N1 strain, and so far in 2023 7.5 million birds have been culled due to the H5N1 and H7N6 strain of the Avian Influenza.

Regarding the contingency plans for the broiler hatching egg shortfall in the country, he suggested the following solutions:

• Extending the depletion age of national broiler breeder flock placements – provides more hatching eggs for day-old chick production
• Setting eggs from younger flocks in the national broiler breeder program – provides more hatching eggs for day-old chick production
• Reduced the export of broiler hatching eggs – provides more hatching eggs for local supply
• Relax the criteria around the grading of broiler hatching eggs at the hatcheries – provides more hatching eggs for day-old chick production
• Import broiler hatching eggs (current estimates >53 million hatching eggs over next 6 months) - first eggs arrived by air freight in early October 2023
• Frozen poultry stocks carried over from the recent winter (lower demand for chicken) afford us an opportunity to alleviate any chicken shortages over the Festive season
• Neighboring (Botswana / Namibia / Lesotho) countries recent move to ban South African chicken into their countries will also bolster local stocks
• This will completely cover any potential shortage after November 2023.

On how best to control and combat outbreaks and to stop further losses to the industry and country, he said compensation is critical to support culling as a disease control measure. The vaccination registration process must be fast-tracked so that the breeding stock replaced can be protected against future H5 and H7 events mitigating the shortages of table eggs and chicken and preventing massive financial losses for the industry. It would also help to not implement a tariff rebate on the MFN duties and or the anti-dumping duties since hatching egg imports and other mitigation measures alleviated the production shortage. Local poultry production must also be supported to promote job security and national food security.

(See Presentation)

DALRRD Presentation

Dr Mpho Maja, Director: Animal Health, DALRRD, presented an overview of Avian Influenza as well as the current status of the virus in South Africa. She said the general concerns around Avian Influenza include pathogenicity, human-to-human spread, that the list of mammals affected by the virus is growing, its financial effect on the chicken industry, as well as its effect on food security in the country.

Avian Influenza is a highly contagious viral disease, and it can be classified into two categories. First, there is the low pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI) that typically causes little or no clinical signs, and secondly, the high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) that can cause severe clinical signs and possible high mortality rates.  These have a high potential of mutating to infect people. Migratory wild birds, especially waterfowls, are the natural host and reservoir of avian influenza viruses. Wild birds also play a major role in avian influenza viruses’ evolution and maintenance during low seasons. 

Vaccination is considered, but it is important to note that vaccination will not prevent disease but only decrease the severity of symptoms. The safety of vaccines is key and under no circumstances can the vaccination replace good biosecurity. Surveillance in vaccinated flocks will have to be increased considerably to detect the introduction of field viruses (cost of owner). No vaccinated live birds can be sold unless to a location with the same vaccinated status. The current SADC protocol is not to vaccinate, and discussions must take place if vaccination is considered. A Serology DIVA test will have to be
implemented and validated.

(See Presentation)

Discussion

Dr M Tlhape (ANC) noted the suggestion of compensation for the culling of birds and added that when the Department presented the matter to the Committee before, it was tricky because Avian Influenza does not only affect the poultry industry. Does SAPA really believe that culling can be a good support mechanism for the poultry industry? With the current SADC protocol regarding the vaccination of birds, how is SAPA supporting the Department to present a solid case for the vaccination of birds to SADC based on the frequency of the occurrence of Influenza in the country? Is South Africa winning the fight against the Influenza currently?

Mr N Masipa (DA) emphasised the Department’s role in ensuring that the sector transforms and is able to deliver food security and added that it is dismally failing the sector, and as a result, this is creating division between black and white farmers in the country, which is a growing problem. Cabinet noted that a majority of independent poultry and egg producers have not been affected by the Avian Influenza. The Department must explain what or who are the independent poultry or independent egg producers and how they differ from the producers that are affected by the Influenza.

He said the Department’s Outcome 7, which seeks to enhance biosecurity and effective disaster management and its other interventions to the issue, were not clear and he did not feel the Department had a strategy to deal with the issue as they did not mention the steps they have taken to address the issue and how far they had come. What is the Department doing to ensure that the process of vaccine procurement is fast-tracked?

The work of biosecurity and the work of the DALRRD is a concurrent function and the Gauteng Department of Agriculture has not been visibly engaging or addressing the challenges affecting the poultry industry in Gauteng. What have been the gains of the industry since the masterplan was implemented and what has been the impact of the masterplan? How much will it cost to implement the masterplan?

Compensation came up several times during the presentation, so why was it difficult for the Department to state the kind of compensation support they are willing to provide to support the industry? What is the current price of eggs versus before the outbreak of the Influenza and if all the exports are stopped, will the price of eggs go back to the normal prices? What losses have been incurred by the industry due to the Influenza? What are the timelines for the data being compiled by the Department to avoid vaccination challenges in the SADC region?

Farmers are in business, there are costs and revenue, so if they do not make revenue, they have no business at all. If nothing is done to save the farmers’ businesses from losing more revenue, then time is being wasted. The Committee must be clear with its recommendations to the Minister in terms of employee support, farmer support, food security, and ensuring that the poultry industry survives and thrives.

Ms T Breedt (FF+) wanted to know the reasons for SADC’s view on not vaccinating and sought clarity on how, with certain vaccinations, it will become endemic and will not be good for the poultry industry. She wanted to know what impact this will have and why will it be a problem if it is endemic. What is the Department’s view on financial compensation? On the suggestion of importing poultry from other countries like Namibia, she made an example of poultry dumping in Brazil and asked how South Africa can ensure that there is no poultry dumping happening to the detriment of its farmers when its stockpiles are replenished.

There implementation of biosecurity measures has not been successfully monitored and implemented in the country. Who is responsible for monitoring these measures and what is currently being done in that regard? The first presenter mentioned the H7 strain coming from Brazil and the country having not reported that to South Africa. Taking into account that Brazil is a BRICS partner to South Africa, how will South Africa ensure that it does not get other strains from Brazil and other countries affecting the South African poultry industry to the detriment of its economy? How far is South Africa regarding the importation of vaccines and how far is the development of South Africa’s own vaccine development?

Ms T Mbabama (DA) said Dr Maja mentioned a few infected farms in South Africa that requested to not cull their chickens and that the Department is considering allowing this under stringent quarantine and biosecurity measures. Why would the Department consider this? Does it mean that not culling means the Avian Influenza can be cured if they follow this strict quarantine and biosecurity measures? Is it wise to allow these farmers not to cull if the Influenza has different strains, even under strict biosecurity measures and quarantine?

The poultry masterplan has five implementation points in its first phase, but there is no mention of strengthening the country’s biosecurity infrastructure or vaccines, which is surprising considering the seriousness of the Avian Influenza. What impact do emerging contract growers have on the commercial poultry industry in terms of the Avian Influenza? She also did not understand why vaccination was considered as a last option by the Department and not as a preventative strategy and asked for clarity on the matter.

Ms N Mahlo (ANC) wanted to know what would happen with the eggs that cannot be exported to other countries and what would happen with the farmers who do not vaccinate their chickens. How far is the Department with implementing its plans to assist those affected by the Avian Influenza?

Dr Thlape asked if the members of the SAPA are insured and whether the companies that they insured their businesses with responded favourably regarding Avian Influenza. Is the Association encouraging its members to get insurance for their businesses besides waiting for government compensation?

The Chairperson said it was mentioned that there are about 7.5 million chickens that need to be culled and looking at the industry, there are 5 million chickens slaughtered a day, meaning this is a day’s impact versus the overall chicken or poultry industry. How is this considered a crisis or challenge? In some sectors, this would be regarded as a means of creating demand so that the prices can be inflated, hence the prices of eggs and chickens are rising, and because this is a highly privately owned industry, they are able to determine how much goes into the system and how much is allowed to circulate within the industry. What measures has the Department put in place to create independence from the private sector by growing its own sector through the District Development Model (DDM) so there can be a more balanced industry where when there is a shortage in the industry by business, government can fill in the gap?

What has been the impact of the Influenza outbreak on employment in the poultry sector? If there are 7.5 million chickens that must be culled and eggs that must be destroyed, how does this affect employment? The Department confirmed the primary factor in increasing risk in Southern Africa in poultry movements of infected domestic poultry as well as poor biosecurity. Based on the lessons learnt from the previous outbreak of Avian Influenza, what specific additional control measures is the Department currently implementing to strengthen biosecurity and combat the spread of the disease?

As South Africa has a dual agricultural sector, how is the Department ensuring that subsistence and small-scale poultry farmers are aware of the Avian Influenza outbreak and are capacitated to deal with the disease effectively and its control measures? Several biosecurity and quarantine measures that farms must comply with for exemption are outlined on slide 23 of the presentation. Are small-scale poultry farmers aware of these measures? What is the Department’s intervention in cases where such farmers do not have the capacity and resources to comply with those strict biosecurity measures? How much budget was used by the Department to control the previous outbreak and how much budget is available to control the current outbreak? Does the government have enough personnel and capacity to control and manage the latest Avian Influenza outbreak?

Regarding the poultry masterplan, what is the Department’s involvement in the implementation of the poultry masterplan, and what role has the poultry master plan played in capacitating poultry producers to be able to deal with challenges such as Avian Influenza thus far?

Dr Balarane said the current H7 strain that is found in Mpumalanga and Gauteng did not come from Brazil, but it is a South African strain that is not found elsewhere in the world. The issue with Brazil is that the number of wild birds that are affected in Brazil is high, and normally the Avian Influenza is transmitted through the wild birds. Brazil currently claims that there are no infected commercial birds, except for a few backyard producers.

Regarding compensation, he said the law in terms of controlling or curbing the disease, one of the mechanisms that have been put in place is compensation as one of the instruments that can assist producers. A backyard producer is someone who has under a hundred chickens, and there are white commercial farmers at a small and larger scale, and then black commercial farmers at a small and large scale. The Avian Influenza has hit white commercial farmers at large scale as well as black commercial farmers. The H7 started at a small producer of around 3 000 birds and spread around the country, so it affects everyone.

The egg masterplan talks about building egg stations in the townships and the malls. The Association built a pack station in the West Rand area in Johannesburg, but because Avian Influenza is dominant in Gauteng, the Association is nervous about ensuring that the extension will be operational. The Association represents over 90% of egg producers in the country, and for small producers of below 5 000 birds, the Association can usually manage losses for them. The Egg Organisation introduced a scheme for small producers where all the small producers can apply to SAPA for its transformation funding. The bigger farmers are where the crux of the compensation issues is coming from.

There are no quantified figures for the losses incurred because of the outbreak, but the egg industry contributes about R12 billion in terms of the agricultural GDP, and if it is 30% of the birds affected by the outbreak, that 30% can be subtracted from the GDP contribution.

Mr Breitenbach said the 7.5 million birds culled did not include broiler birds as those are the long-living birds, the broiler breeder birds, and the commercial layer birds. The broiler breeder birds were more than about 2.5 million birds culled and the total population was about 8.7 million, which is about 30% of the population. In Gauteng, 95% of the population was culled because of the disease. A lot has happened in the last two years in the poultry industry, where 1 400 small farmers were trained in terms of biosecurity protocols to be followed, veterinarians and technical staff were also trained during this exercise. They also sent out people to do biosecurity audits for small farmers to get them to improve their biosecurity in case of a disease outbreak like Avian Influenza.

There were 20 contract grower farmers established, which are big farms that each cost about R45 million, and 20 of these black farmers were established successfully. The industry supplied water licenses for 40 independent farms and environmental impact studies at its own cost. The first pillar of the masterplan was that there needs to be an investment into the industry. R1.8 billion was invested in the industry and a 10% increase in capacity was achieved by the investment, but because of the Influenza, that capacity remains vacant, which impacted transformation.

South Africa exports about 1% of total production mainly to the neighbouring countries but the longer-term plan is not to only export frozen meat, but also cooked and partially cooked products to countries in the Middle East and the European Union. Avian Influenza will not negatively influence that specific process, so that will still carry on in terms of the master plan. To increase the consumption of local products, the industry works closely with Proudly South African, and the final pillar of the masterplan relates to trade measures. It is important that the country does not give a rebate on anti-dumping duties and let the industry compete with dumped products because that will not help the consumer. The dumped price has never been given through by importers to the consumers.

In 2017, the Avian Influenza cost the broiler R1.8 billion and the current outbreak is estimated to cost the industry more than that amount. The purpose of compensation in terms of the Animal Diseases Act is to incentivise farmers to cull chickens to contain the virus so that it does not spread and become an industry disaster. Currently, there is no insurance available for Avian Influenza in South Africa because of the high risk of the disease, so no insurance company is willing to take that risk. The issue of compensation becomes critical in this regard so that farmers can be incentivised to cull their birds so that they do not lose their own livelihoods. By not culling the birds, they lessen the chances of getting the disease under control.

Mr Dipepeneneng Serage, DDG: Agricultural Production, Biosecurity, and Disaster Management, DALRRD, said section 11 of the Animal Diseases Act makes it the duty of the farmer to prevent diseases on their animals and to ensure that they are not infected, and this section is often neglected. Section 19 says a farmer whose animals might be destroyed owing to disease control may be compensated and does not make it obligatory. The government simply does not have the funds to compensate the farmers, even though it understands that culling will have a negative impact on the farmers, and in hindsight the economy and food security.

Some of the farms that are applying for compensation have already been infected by the outbreak, for example, there were farms that were affected in 2021 that applied for compensation and were refused by the Department, and they have been infected again and have applied for compensation. If the Department were to compensate these farms as requested by the industry, that means the Department would be running the business of compensating farmers. it is the intention of the government to assist farmers to not go out of business, but the government does not have the funds, and in terms of section 11 of the Animal Diseases Act, biosecurity is the responsibility of the farmers.

There is a case of H7-infected chickens that were moved from the North West to the Western Cape, which is recklessness because, with the knowledge that there was an outbreak of influenza, it was expected that the farmers would have taken all due precautions. In response to the question of the government tightening up biosecurity and quarantine measures, the Department is finalising regulations for the control of the movement of chickens like it is doing with cattle. This is because farmers do not adhere to basic biosecurity measures, and it is unfortunate that this also affects the consumers. The Department will Gazette and publish regulations that will ensure that chickens will not be moved around without authorisation to ensure that biosecurity is strengthened.

The training of small-scale farmers and subsistence farmers is an ongoing exercise, and there are not many outbreaks of infections within that sector. This could be because of the small numbers that they keep or the distance between the farms, but the Department is assisting them with education and training on biosecurity, but not with compensation. Regarding vaccinations, he said the Department was hesitant to vaccinate, but it looks like the pressure is mounting and the Department may want to consider vaccinations for the chickens as soon as the safety of the vaccines is confirmed. Members would recall that the government approved vaccinations for the Newcastle disease after taking some careful considerations on the safety of the vaccines. The Department is consulting with industry bodies to ensure that vaccinations for the Avian Influenza are safe and as soon as that is confirmed, vaccinations will commence.

It is the responsibility of the Department to ensure that there is food, eggs, and poultry, and the Department was first to advocate for the anti-dumping tariffs, and it will continue to do so if there is stock. However, if there is no stock and that borders on food security, the Department will unfortunately have to import and will have to ask the relevant Department to offer rebates. The Department will engage with the industry regarding the vaccination issue, but farmers must also come on board and assist where they can and not just ask for compensation when they are not playing ball. If one has a farm with five houses, and one of the houses is infected, logic says the farmer must ensure that the other houses do not get infected, but the unfortunate reality is that the other houses are also getting infected, which is a concern to the government. 

Dr Maja said SAPA mentioned in their presentation that the situation regarding the spread of the outbreak is slowing down, and the Department agrees with that because, in the last two weeks, only a few cases were reported. The Department is hoping that the new H7 infections in the Western Cape will not restart the peak of the infections like the Gauteng situation.

Regarding the vaccines, the Department is considering the dossiers that have been presented before it, investigating the safety, efficacy, and whether the vaccines protect against the viruses that are circulating, as well as the quality. The Department has received preliminary feedback with the H5 information in that the vaccines are legitimate. Unfortunately, the H6 information that was presented does not make a recommendation for the vaccine to be used.

It is only a matter of time before the vaccines are registered. The vaccines will be imported by the pharmaceutical industry and not by the government and the distribution of the vaccines is going to be only through registered Veterinarians for registered farms. The criteria for registering and approving farms for vaccinations is good biosecurity and undertaking to comply with the surveillance requirements so that they do not end up with the H6 situation.

Some 15 years ago when H6, which is low pathogenic, infected the country, the Department permitted vaccinations because one of the clinical signs was a drop in production, so because of the nature of H6 being low pathogenic, the Department gave permission for the vaccines to be distributed. Because of the low pathogenicity of the H6 infections, the government did not put stringent surveillance and biosecurity measures for farms that used the vaccine, which is the lesson that was learnt by the Department, hence the decision to not permit H6, H5, and H7 to be used under the same conditions.

Vaccination is not going to be compulsory, so producers who do not want to vaccinate will not be forced to vaccinate, but those who want to vaccinate will have to meet specific criteria. The producers will have to buy the vaccine as it will not be provided by the government as it did with foot and mouth disease. The individual owners will have to procure their own stocks with assistance from their private attending Veterinarians who will be accountable and responsible for the use of the vaccine and the monitoring of the flock.

The current H7 is not as fatal as the H5, but it is still being transmitted as readily and steadily as the H5, so the industry was advised - by their attending Veterinarians - to increase the biosecurity so the infection does not escape the affected premises. The birds seem to have recovered from the preliminary information provided by the industry, but they will remain under quarantine for life and will not be allowed to be sold unless they come back negative from surveillance and further testing.

Until recently, SADC and the world were very careful with permitting vaccination, and it probably comes from lessons that were learnt from the H6, that if vaccines are used indiscriminately, they end up creating an endemic situation. The East is vaccinating indiscriminately, but South Africa is refusing to do so because of lessons learnt. The agreement with SADC is that South Africa starts with vaccinations as soon as it is ready, given that the vaccines will be registered, and farms will apply as per the requirements put in place. SADC is not saying South Africa should not vaccinate until data is collected, but they are interested because they are watching the space and may also follow suit to vaccinate should the situation in their respective territories become like the situation in South Africa.

The type of data they asked from the Department includes, the approach being taken by the Department on the matter, the surveillance being done, whether the birds are being protected, how the birds respond to challenges by natural infection, how long it takes the birds to recover if they do recover, what is the drop in production, etc.

Mr Bothle Modisane, Acting DDG: Agriculture Production, Health, and Food Safety, DALRRD, said the Avian Influenza viruses have a tendency to mutate. If the virus continues to mutate, it may eventually also affect other animals and end up affecting human beings, resulting in human-to-human transmission, which is why endemicity would not be an ideal situation. The Department’s trading partners, including SADC, are hesitant to continue trading with South Africa if it chooses to vaccinate, which is also the reason that in the last meeting, they said they would inform their principals that South Africa is considering vaccinating.

In the past, the world was entirely against vaccinating, but in May this year at the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), vaccinations were agreed to as a strategy, but what is noticeable is that even countries that agreed to vaccinate have not touched their poultry in chickens and are only considering vaccinating turkeys. Besides Mexico which experimented vaccinating with H7N3, South Africa would be the first country in the world that would be vaccinating officially. China and Egypt tried to vaccinate in the past but that resulted in endemicity, which resulted in some of the current challenges in the world, so the decision to vaccinate or not vaccinate is not easy to make.

Regarding the poultry masterplan, he said the Department has been involved in the poultry masterplan since its inception and is responsible for the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the poultry masterplan including issues of biosecurity, animal production, training, developing, and contracting farmers to produce better, as well as sanitary issues. The Department’s trade and marketing section has also been involved and before the outbreak, the Department was on the verge of negotiating with the Saudi Arabians to open the markets for South African poultry to be exported to them. The Department has also been harmonising certificates of exports of its products to the far East and the Middle East.

The Department has utilised public media platforms to raise awareness among the public regarding Avian Influenza and has involved its colleagues in the provinces to communicate the message in the dominant languages in the respective provinces. The Western Cape Veterinary Services sent out messages to the farming community not to bring in any live chickens, especially from the affected provinces, but the movement from the North West happened and a farm was infected.

Mr Serage said section 19 of the Animal Diseases Act does not incentivise farmers, but it is part of disease control and gives the state the power to control diseases so that they do not spread. Farmers who do not report diseases would be contravening section 11 and other sections of the same Act and might be prosecuted for that. 

Ms Zoleka Capa, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, said the Minister has been hands-on and engaged all the relevant stakeholders and worked with them as expected. Several issues were raised in the meeting with the help of the Portfolio Committee, and together with the other Deputy Minister, the Director-General, and the Minister, they will be able to deal with the issues raised in their own report. She appreciated the inputs shared in the meeting and asked not to respond to the matters raised until the heads of the Department have met and considered them. She accepted every constructive criticism received from the Committee and the industry on behalf of the Department.

Mr Masipa said worldwide, when things like this happen, the country’s competitors are compensated, and when they are requested to cull their animals, they are compensated. It is the government’s duty to police, manage, and ensure that the movement of animals is under control. If the government cannot do the basic management and policing and ensure that farmers adhere to laws, that is a problem. The government does not have enough state Veterinarians and technicians and is unable to fulfill their own tasks. It cannot be right that farmers or producers are always blamed for everything, and the government does not take responsibility.

He noted Dr Maja said there would be vaccinations administered, but Mr Modisane said they are concerned that the world is not vaccinating and wanted to hear a clear position from the Department regarding the vaccination.

Ms Mahlo said the Minister acknowledged all that was said in the meeting and said the heads of the Department would deal with them as raised in their own meeting. She did not feel the Department needed to answer any further questions after that statement and asked that they be given a chance to work out a response.

Dr Thlape said Mr Serage made an example of chickens being moved from the North West to the Western Cape by commercial farmers and not by small-scale farmers or backyard growers and asked why the farmers are not taking responsibility for not adhering to the regulations. The government cannot always be blamed for everything; the farmers must also do their part and adhere to restrictions.

Mr Balarane said he was looking forward to the implementation of some of the interventions that were mentioned by the Department in the meeting and did not have any further comments.

Mr Serage said the Department will continue to work with the industry to ensure that the Influenza is contained, that everything is restored back into order and the industry is able to export again. He said the Department is not in favour of the vaccination, but it does not look like they have a choice, and it will have to happen under strict supervision after the safety of the vaccines is confirmed.

Deputy Minister Capa said the members of the Department that participated because of the invitation understand that the Department has a duty to listen to the Portfolio Committee and to consider matters together with the relevant directly involved administrative people and government leaders. She emphasised that they would carefully interrogate what was said by the members and how they responded to the members, and once the Minister and the entire Department have deliberated on the matter, it will report back to the Committee.

Mr Breytenbach said losing 2 million boiler breeder birds culled amounts to 6 million broilers per week in lost production. The industry slaughters an average of 21 million broilers per week, so it is a huge amount of bird slaughter.

The Chairperson thanked Mr Breitenbach for clarifying the matter. He said he was often left with a dilemma when faced with such challenges and made an example that he once bought a bull for R50 000, and the bull subsequently died at his farm, and he did not think to call the Department to ask for business rescue. In another sector, Jimmy Spar in Mthatha burnt down and the Chairperson did not recall them asking for business rescue from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Perhaps at some point will have to come before the Committee to tell it about when it ever takes responsibility for rescuing certain cases over others. It would be important for the Department to clarify who is prioritised in terms of support.

He thanked the Deputy Minister, the Department, as well as representatives from SAPA for their engagements in the meeting and allowed them to exit the meeting as the Committee continued with its internal matters.

Consideration and adoption of Committee Report on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

The report was tabled for consideration.

Ms Mahlo moved for the adoption of the report and was seconded by Mr Masipa who noted that there must be legislation in place to ensure that there is no struggle to get genetics from other countries and to ensure that no other country is accessing the genetics of South Africa without permission due to legislation not being in place.

Read: ATC231020: Report Of The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources For Food And Agriculture (ITPGRFA), Dated 20 October 2023.

The Chairperson thanked the members for their participation in the meeting and noted that the Committee will ensure that there is legislation in place.

The meeting was adjourned.