KZN hit by 80-90% FMD prevalence rate as vaccines set to arrive on Thursday
The Department of Agriculture in KwaZulu-Natal says the province is grappling with an 80 to 90 per cent prevalence rate of foot-and-mouth disease.
" That means almost every cattle that you see grazing or in dairy farms is considered to be positive for the disease. That problem escalated last year, around June in 2025, and was compounded by the fact that the vaccines that we have been sourcing or procuring from Botswana got depleted," says the provincial agriculture department's Vusi Khumalo.
The national department confirmed over the weekend that KZN will receive a large share of the imported vaccines that arrived over the weekend.
The outbreak, which has crippled farmers and threatened food security and the broader agricultural economy, has been declared a national disaster.
KZN is considered the epicentre of the disease.
There is also mounting concern that a significant number of cases are going unreported.
Khumalo admits it has been a huge problem for them.
" It has a very negative impact on the disease control, and other than that, that means the resources will not be distributed accordingly or accurately to those problem areas. We are encouraging our farmers to immediately report any suspicious case of the FMD to the nearest state vet offices."
Khumalo says the first set of vaccines is set to arrive in the province on Thursday.
" We are trying our level best to ensure that we address the contents that we have on the ground, especially by the farmers who have been waiting for such a long time. The wait now will be over probably by this coming Thursday, the KwaZulu-Natal government will be administering its first batch of vaccines."
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