Red Meat Industry Services RMIS CEO Dewald Olivier has called for the improved containment of infectious diseases in the agriculture industry.
This follows a fresh outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease FMD in the Moqhaka local municipality near Kroonstad, Free State.
The Department of Agriculture earlier this month announced the successful containment of the disease in parts of the Eastern Cape and Limpopo and lifted disaster management area restrictions that have been in place in some areas.
Olivier warns that unless containment efforts are effectively enforced, the agriculture industry may suffer additional setbacks.
Were not going to eradicate foot and mouth disease within the South African context, and for that matter, in Africa. We need to manage the disease, and I think our management needs to be better rather than to have the focus on trying to eradicate it.
