L Xingwana: South African Veterinary Council meeting

13 March 2007

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
Source: Department of Agriculture (http://www.nda.agric.za)