Recently the Minister of Agriculture, John Steenhuisen, announced the extension of the limits of the disease management zones after reports of cases in several districts of that province, including uMkhanyakude, Zululand and Amajuba.

As Celimpilo Mtshali, a farmer in Mtubatuba, Umkhanyakude district, explained, the problem we are experiencing with FMD is that our business is declining almost on a daily basis.

We use this business to feed our families and send our children, but now we are facing great difficulties because we are not doing other things, the farmer lamented.

In statements to the press, he demanded that the government build a dipping tank – for the process of sterilizing milk by boiling water.

Thembeni KaMadlopha Mthethwa, KwaZulu-Natal’s provincial director of Agriculture and Rural Development, said he was unaware that some specific areas lacked such a device even though they were in prioritized areas.

KwaZulu-Natal has been particularly affected by repeated outbreaks starting in 2021.

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