EU export ban: ostrich industry may collapse

Times Live reports that South Africa's ostrich industry hangs in the balance as farmers desperately await a lift on a meat export ban imposed by the European Union (EU), with time and money running out.

Image: Paul Martin Eldridge / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About 741 farms - mostly found in the Klein Karoo valley, Southern Cape and Eastern Cape - used to be registered with the SA Ostrich Business Chamber (SAOBC), but this number decreased when the H5N2 bird flu virus broke out in the Klein Karoo, in the Western Cape, last April.

According to the SAOBC interim chief Piet Kleyn, the number of farms "has reduced significantly in the last few months [...] as it's no longer profitable." The EU used to import 90 percent of South Africa's ostrich meat, and ostrich farms used to slaughter 250,000 birds a year for meat, leather and feathers. Western Cape agricultural spokesman Wouter Kriel said the industry was losing about R108 million a month in export revenue and 20,000 job opportunities were at stake.

According to Times Live, the agriculture department said it would apply to lift the ban only once the industry had been re-structured -- in line with the recommendations of an EU delegation which visited the country in February. Kriel said the industry agreed it was sound advice, but time was running out. "... we are lobbying national government to re-think this approach and let's rather allow a few guys to export now. Let's find ways to get them to export at this stage, otherwise the industry will collapse," he said.

Read the full article on www.timeslive.co.za.