The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), in partnership with Total South Africa hosted the annual Female Entrepreneur of the Year Awards at a gala dinner in Kimberley yesterday, 23 March 2012. In her congratulatory remarks Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said “our aim is to create female entrepreneurs who
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) will host the annual Female Entrepreneur of the Year Awards at the Mittah Seperepere Convention Centre in Kimberley, Northern Cape, on Friday 23 March 2012. The DAFF Female Entrepreneur Programme, a joint venture between the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) and Total SA seeks to
FIRE FIGHTING AND FIRE SAFETY Fires do the following • Fires destroy lives and property;• Fires has no respect for class or status;• Fires has no respect for the time of day / night;• In general – fires destroy and needs to be prevented and combated … Veldt fire AWARENESS 90% of all unwanted fires
Initiate research and diagnostic to the veterinary personnel and medical practitioners and farmers.
The sub-programme Export Control is responsible for the facilitation of trade animals and animal productsContact Person:Deputy Director:Dr Hugo on 053 839 7870 The number of certificates signed informs of the amount of trade that is taking place in the province and how much trade is inbound and how much is outbound.After the slump in 2008
Prevention, control and eradication of animal disease.Deputy Director: Dr Trudi PrinslooContact: 053 832 4241
The aim of the programme is to provide veterinary services which promote sustainable economic growth through export/import and, ensure healthy animals,safe animal products and the welfare of people and animals in the Northern Cape and South Africa.
The programme consists of the following 4 sub-programmes:
Animal Health
Export Control
Veterinary Public Health
Veterinary Lab Services
The objectives of this programme are:
ANIMAL HEALTH
To facilitate and provide animal disease control services in order to protect the animal population against highly infectious and economic diseases, through the implementation of the Animal Diseases Act (Act 35 of 1984) or Animal Health Act (Act 7 of 2002), when promulgated and Primary Animal health programme/projects.
EXPORT CONTROL
To provide control measures including risk assessment and Health Certification, in order to facilitate the importation and exportation of animals and animal products.
VETERINARY PUBLIC HEALTH
To ensure the safety of meat and meat products and the prevention of food borne diseases through the implementation of Meat Safety Act (Act 40 of 2000), the Animal Disease Act (Act 35 of 1984),food safety awareness and various meat safety schemes as well as other relevant legislation.
VETERINARY LABORATORY SERVICES
To render veterinary diagnostic, laboratory and investigative services and epidemiological studies that will back the control of animal diseases for adherence to hygienic standards and to generate data.Lab Services primarily provides support services to the strategic objectives of all the sub-programmes of the programme.
The programme will focus on:
The following are some of the outbreak investigations done :
Catfish die-off at Kamfers Dam
In the summer of 2013,the province investigated a massive die-off of wild birds at Kamfers Dam.The investigation concluded that these wild birds were killed by an outbreak of Avian Botulism and that the dam should be monitored during high risk periods.
In the summer of 2014-15 (December-February) the dam was under surveillance as recommended by the Flamingo report when a massive die-off of Catfish was noticed by the state officials.The investigation that was launched involved multiple government departments and the Sol Plaatjie Municipality.The outcome of that investigation was that oxygen depletion in the water had resulted in these catfish die-offa.The water had significantly receded and combined with high temperatures,aquatic life was put under stress.
Bovine Tuberculosis in Buffaloes
The Northern Cape Investigated three cases of Bovine Turbeculosis in three buffalo herds,two of which were epidemologically-linked and one was imported from Namibia.
The index case was an 8 year old bull that was tested as part of a group for an outbound movement.This bull tested positive on the comparative skin test as well as the gamma interferon.Post mortem revealed leseisons consistent with tuberculosis granulomas and these stained positive with the Ziehl Neelson staining technique.Trace back of this buffalo bull lead us to another bull in another farm which also teted positive on the comparative skin test and the gamma interferon.These two herds are under quarantine and being closely monitored by Head Office:Veterinary Services.
The last case was a consignment of 90 imported buffaloes that had failed quarantine due to positive comparative TB skin tests and were subsequently refused entry into South Africa.This consignmnet was succesfully repartriated back to the country of origin.
Newcatle Disease Outbreak in Ostriches
An ostrich farm belonging to emerging farmers reported heavy mortalities in their ostrich chicks.They had bought day-old chicks from two sources, 150 and 100 respectively.The outbreak of Newcastle Disease was confirmed by the laboratory (Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) picked virulent Newcastle Disease Virus (NDC) using hemi nested real time PCR, hnRT-PCR) and could be traced back to the one supplier in the Northern Cape.The Northern Cape team the launched an outbreak investigation and discovered mortalities of up to 44% in some groups linked to the source farm.The affected farms were put under quarantine.Vaccination of day old chicks with La Sota strain of vaccine was advised.
CONTACT DETAILS
1.HEAD OFFICE
5 – 7 Elliot Street, Kimberley 8300
Telephone: 053 839 7870
Provide and maintain infrastructure facilities i.e. experiment farms.
Facilitate, conduct and co-ordinate research needs and transferring appropriate technology to farmers.
