Date: 13/03/2007

Source: Department of Agriculture

Title: Xingwana: South African Veterinary Council meeting

Address by the Honourable Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs Ms Lulu Xingwana at the South African Veterinary Council

President of the South African Veterinary Council, Professor van der Berg
Distinguished members of the Veterinary Council and profession
The Registrar, Ms Kruger
Honorary guests
Ladies and gentlemen

I feel honoured to have been invited to deliver this speech today in this important event of the South African Veterinary Council, which has since its establishment as an independent council in 1982, been the guardian of not only the control of the conduct of veterinarians but also ensured that the community out there obtained the best from our veterinary services whenever they were able to access veterinary services.

Our veterinary services have come a long way since being established in 1870. It has been a long and hard journey since the days of Samuel Wiltshire who was appointed the colonial veterinarian in 1874 with his little head office in Pietermaritzburg. Looking at how far we had to travel, the journey has indeed been a worthy one.

I take this opportunity to convey my thanks to the outgoing president and council members for their hard work during their term of office. I am confident that those who will come in after you will follow on your footsteps and reach even greater heights.

This year South Africa is marking its 13th year of democratic rule, but sadly the veterinary needs of this country, especially the State veterinary services, have not been met adequately. Statistics indicate that the University of Pretoria graduates about 70 veterinarians every year.

There has, however, been a consistent shortage of veterinarians with close to 150 vacant positions within the State veterinary services. This is so, besides the fact that there are approximately 2 500 veterinarians registered with this very council.

I am aware that from the year 2000 to last year, 1 300 qualified veterinarians requested the council to grant them letters of good standing, which implied that they were looking for alternative employment elsewhere. Altogether 45% of these requests are newly qualified people. It is easy to see that with the numbers that we are graduating every year, if all those who obtain letters of good standing indeed leave the country, we lose even those veterinarians who have been in the country to some foreign countries, particularly those in the European Union.

I am convinced that the number of veterinarians lost to these countries could be halved if constructive methods could be employed to retain these highly specialised professionals.

I am aware of the noble attempts by the university to transform and change the composition of the student body at Onderstepoort, but also aware of the reasons given as to why it is difficult to achieve this goal. I, however, believe that more could be done to cater for the needs of this country and also for the continent at large.

Let me paint a picture of our challenges by quoting President Thabo Mbeki in his opening address of the 23rd regional Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) conference in Sandton when he said: "we have to work hard and consistently to guarantee the success of the African agrarian revolution".

Ladies and gentlemen, agriculture continues to constitute the backbone of our economy. Similar to the rest of Africa, our twin challenge is the achievement of food security through increased production and reduction of post-harvest losses and increased trade in safe agricultural products.

Professor van der Berg, as a developing country, we are increasingly under pressure to improve our delivery of veterinary services as a prerequisite for entering the competitive arena of international trade in animals and animal products. The demands on South Africa and other sub-Saharan (SSA) countries by predominantly developed countries for compliance to international sanitary standards have also put increasing demands on our financial, human and technological resources to either work towards compliance or maintaining compliance with standards.

The minimum requirements in terms of the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards of the World Trade Organisation and the guidelines and recommendations of international standard-setting organisations, such as the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), have a direct linkage with the eventual acceptance or refusal of animals or products of animal origin by importing countries. However, compliance to international sanitary standards is not a final guarantee for acceptance of exports which is unfortunately especially true for our country. Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) face, in many instances, unique challenges and obstacles apart from the mere compliance to sanitary standards before successful entry into the export market is possible.

The importance of the above as it relates to us lies on the one hand in the perceived danger of importing countries "expecting too much" from exporting countries, i.e. requiring standards for compliance that are not attainable by many sub-Saharan African countries and, on the other, the need for exporting SSA countries to be supported in the process to realise and maintain the minimum standards to enter and sustain entry into the export market.

The constraints facing SSA countries have been well documented covering the ability of the veterinary services, entry into the export market, the socio-economic impact of freedom from disease, the impact of poverty reduction implications on animal health, and marketing constraints. Some of the observations are mentioned to illustrate the seriousness of the current situation and the bleak prospects for the next two decades emphasising the need for a revitalisation of the livestock production and entry into export market for SSA countries.

Agriculture is the economic heart of most countries and the most likely source of significant growth. In Africa it provides two thirds of employment, half of exports and more than one third of Gross National Income while 70% of Africans depend on agriculture for a living.

Growth in agriculture benefits the poor most. Recent research shows that 1% in agricultural yields reduces the percentage of people living on less than $1 dollar per day by between 0,6 and 1,2%.

In SSA countries agricultural production declined by 5% between 1980 and 2001 while the absolute number of people going hungry increased by 50% and is projected to increase in the future.

Liberalisation of markets has not delivered the expected results because markets do not function smoothly or, in some cases, even exist. Access to assets (such as land and water) is unequal and often reflects intractable patterns of inequality.

The continent's trade with the rest of the world is declining and foreign direct investment has dropped. It is estimated that an estimate decline in SSA share of the world exports between 1962 to 1964 and 1991 to 1993 will equal more than $11 billion reduction in annual exports.

If South Africa is to succeed in being competitive, and take advantage of reduced tariffs and improved disease status to increase trade, we must have a competitive market chain. All parts of the supply chain therefore, need to operate efficiently. This includes suppliers of inputs to production (feed, grass, seed, fencing wire, animal health inputs, credit, extension, financial advice), the production units, marketing, slaughter of animals, processing and shipping. We wish to encourage export growth and therefore have to consider a package of economic incentives to assist all parts of the sector, as well as removing disease constraints and meeting international health requirements.

If the purpose of disease eradication programmes is to promote export, then it is important to examine the effects of export-led growth to the poor. In theory, benefits to poor livestock owners could come from direct participation in the export market or from a general increase in national prosperity. A programme for disease freedom intended to boost exports may therefore benefit the poorer members of the livestock sector, but only if the sector is already highly export orientated, or if policies are specifically designed to include them.

The changing international environment has resulted in an increasing demand for food-safety and health assurances to facilitate international trade but also a simultaneous increased household demand for safe and wholesome food. There is no clearly defined response to the enormous challenge of meeting both demands, especially in developing countries.

Most developed countries and international organisations have responded significantly to the new challenges emanating from consumer concerns over food safety. It remains debatable, however, whether these responses will have the same outcome for the 830 million food insecure people in developing countries. Irrespective of whether the initial drive for improved standards is only aimed at adding value to the domestic economy and society or to ease consumer fears and demands or whether it is an intermediary step towards exports, the fact remains that exports are critical for rural economic growth. Developing countries should therefore strive to be able to negotiate and render sanitary guarantees to meet the appropriate level of protection of their potential trading partners.

We are following with interest and anticipation important discussions on avian influenza which is a serious potential threat to human health but, on the other hand, requires rational decision-making not to over-react, thereby posing a risk to the important international trade in poultry and poultry products.

South Africa has recently experienced outbreaks of serious diseases, which led to the state intervention by culling and compensating the owners for the culled animals and products. This has led to several court battles because of misunderstanding between the farmers and the State, emanating mostly from the advice given by members of this profession.

Professor van der Berg, compensation programmes are useful in the control of animal diseases and we believed that these assist in the reporting and control of animal diseases. Its efficacy depends on farmers' co-operation in the prevention and control of annual diseases and mitigation of economic losses for farmers by eliminating out diseased or suspected animals.

The successful development of such schemes requires the co-operation of all interested parties, including farmers' associations, veterinary practitioners, the private and financial sectors and communities.

The veterinary services of this country should include the state veterinary services, the statutory organisations of the profession, the private sector and all other stakeholders, including universities and farmers' associations. In this way, additional synergy and strength needed to provide a consolidated vision for the future role of all stakeholders in national policy formulation on animal health care and welfare will be gained. I foresee that there will be an effective communication programme between all stakeholders that will provide government veterinary services with animal health and welfare information, which will promote effective animal disease risk management.

In the past few years, as we all will very well know, we have seen an outbreak of new diseases, some strains of a type never present in South Africa before and some of which were eradicated many, many years ago. Some diseases in other parts of the world have been linked to transmission to humans.

As a result of global trade, the health risks both to human health and environment have become even more pronounced. This has necessitated a great deal of scientific work being undertaken by people such as yourself to determine the nature and the causes of such diseases in our animal population. Because of the threat to human health some of these have necessitated medical research in order to understand the mutation of some of these viruses and the transmission to human health.

Currently, the World Health Organisation itself has been deliberating on the nature of avian flu and some of the strains that are considered as posing potential risks of mutation and therefore spreading to human populations in individual countries and globally.

A case in point is the avian influenza and classical swine fever outbreaks in the Eastern Cape. South Africa demonstrated that we may not necessarily have sufficient internal capacity to deal with the fast- spreading animal disease challenge. On the other hand, we are rich in natural resources and we have an abundance of wild animals which are also important for tourism as well as part of our ecosystem. However, some of these important species for tourism are also the main vectors that transmit foot-and-mouth, such as buffalo. Some of the other vectors such as flies that transmit African horse-sickness play an important role in the biodiversity. The climate is suitable for the growth of various vectors which transmit animal diseases. In such situations it is difficult to remove some of the vectors which play an important role in transmitting animal diseases.

Ladies and gentlemen, African countries within the Comprehensive African Agricultural Programme of New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) have identified marketing and international trade as an important element within Africa's agricultural development agenda.

However, we all know that trade in livestock products requires each country to meet quality standards that are required in foreign markets. In addition, consumers worldwide are becoming more demanding with regard to what they want.

Secondly, increased volumes in order to meet the demands of the market also necessitate improved production. In the context of animal diseases, regulatory services become even more important to support any production system in order to ensure that sanitary standards are met.

Currently, another important factor in the trade arena is the consumer. This is clearly evident from the shift in quantity to quality issues. Consumer preferences influenced by increased incomes as well as health and other social concerns and demand for quality products are also changing the way suppliers and producers respond to market signals.

As Africans, we believe that trade is a crucial director of growth, yet Africa, with 10 % of world population, represents less than 2% of the world's trade. Most of African economies are small and provide limited national markets for local trade that can spur faster growth rates for development. As a result, the pursuit of better access to foreign markets is therefore a crucial component of Africa's development strategy. Understanding the link between trade, standards and export competitiveness should be at the forefront of trade policy analysis.

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) promises to be the vehicle to promote African economic development. In recognition of, and with the participation of all the people of Africa, our mission is to create "a prosperous continent free of conflict in which all our people can fulfil their potential" and "that participates effectively in the global economy on an equal footing".

In this regard, the OIE plays an important role in defining the 'equal footing' that will allow developing countries to participate in the global economy with regard to the international trade of livestock and livestock products.

In conclusion, I would like to re-launch the livestock sector. While it is expected to be difficult, this re-launch is regarded as an opportunity to learn from the past failures and to make it possible for the sector to take up the initiative to re-adjust their strategies so as to halve the number of people suffering from hunger in the next ten years, and to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Veterinary services are a global public good because the externalities of good animal health programmes accrue to humans as they reduce poverty and improve human health. If we have a mutual approach to animal health and welfare the Millennium Development Goals will be achieved in a much more sustainable manner.

It is also very important that the statutory bodies should all contribute to the government programmes of Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA) and Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA).

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Agriculture
13 March 2007