JOHANNESBURG - The government has set out priorities to support farmers as the grain sector delivers a record-breaking harvest.
READ: Outbreak of foot and mouth disease confirmed in five provinces
Grain producers delivered over 23-million tonnes despite economic pressures.
Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen discussed the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease as well as how food prices are affected by the grain harvest.
Cases have been confirmed in five provinces and nearly a million animals are already vaccinated.
But farmers are struggling as movement restrictions and isolation measures are enforced, to contain the highly contagious virus.
Steenhuisen said, "We currently have 375 live cases around the country. We've closed 24 cases."
"We've vaccinated just under a million animals to date, which is the most we've ever vaccinated before."
"And we're proactively adopting a vaccination strategy to prevent foot-and-mouth disease. Where the constraint lies is people who do not follow the rules."
"And we've seen now, particularly in the outbreak in the Western Cape, that there clearly was a breach of the rules around the movement of animals outside of disease management areas into foot and mouth free zones without the necessary permits," he said.
"And this is obviously a cause for great concern. We've seen it is virtually impossible to close off every road in or out of a disease management area."
"And so we really are calling for two things."
"First, the cooperation of all those in the value chain to adhere to the regulations. But secondly, the red meat industry services body launched a track and trace system. And it is our goal to be able to work with the industry to ensure that every animal that's moved in the country has done so on the RMIS track and trace system in order to ensure that we have proper movement control in the country and surveillance," Steenhuisen said.