CSF and PRRS information being verified

SAPPO is busy verifying all the information received from the different provinces in the survey done on Classical Swine Fever and PRRS, said Dr Peter Evans, health officer of SAPPO.

SAPPO decided to conduct this survey in cooperation with the National Veterinary Services to determine whether all provinces are free of Classical Swine Fever and PRRS. As far as PRRS is concerned, the focus is on minimising risks. This includes surveillance at all harbour ports. The Department of Agriculture proved to be efficient in policing harbours.

Dr Evans said the protocol on raw imported pork is nearly finished, and is a dynamic and progressive way to keep PRRS out of the country.

A total of 28 000 sows are currently compartmentalised on 35 farms. This is also a way of minimising risks, he said.

Siektevrye status moontlik eersdaags erken

Suid-Afrika is skoon van Europese Varkpes en PRRS, het Johan van der Walt, voorsitter van SAVPO se Gesondheidskomitee, by die algemene jaarvergadering gesê. Suid-Afrika se siektevrye status moet nog net deur die wêreldgesondheidsorganisasie, die OIE, bevestig word.

Die Gesondheidskomitee gaan nou sterk fokus op die kompartementalisering van produsente. Die oogmerk is om 80% van alle varkvleisprodusente gekompartementaliseer te hê. Van der Walt het ‘n beroep op produsente gedoen om hierby in te skakel.

Promotion campaign to be implemented sooner

The PPP promotion campaign will next year be implemented earlier in the year, namely May/June 2011, because pork sales are usually not very high in the winter months, said Charl Braak, chairman of the PPP Promotions Committee.

The 2010 Porkalicious independent butcheries campaign with the slogan, “Live the porkalicious Lifestyle!” will take place between 17 September and 30 October 2010.
The idea of the campaign is to link pork to a healthy lifestyle. It will also have an educational element with emphasis on the eating quality of pork. A sms-competition for consumers form part of the campaign.

Other promotional activities include participation at Aardklop, the Good Food and Wine Show and a car wash campaign. PPP also launched a social responsibility project that monthly donates pork to needy children.

QA scheme to be rolled out nationally

The PPP AGM accepted a proposal that the PPP Quality Assurance Scheme be rolled out and implemented on a national level.

Dr Peter Evans, SAPPO’s health officer who made the proposal on behalf of John Wright, chairman of the Quality Assurance Committee of PPP, said that this was the conclusion of various role players who attended a PPP workshop on quality assurance. The scheme therefore needs to be a national scheme, inclusive of all provinces, as it will benefit the entire pork industry.

The workshop also advised that a South African pork brand should be investigated, as this could be an excellent way to build consumer loyalty.

The annual general meeting also decided that SAPPO will have to compensate PPP for all the work that has been done to get the scheme going. PPP also reserves the right to evaluate the management of the scheme. The PPP sub-committee for quality assurance will exist for another year in a steering and driving role.

Investment now will have profound effect on climate

“The investment that takes place in the next 10 to 20 years will have a profound effect on the climate in the second half of this century and in the next. Our actions now and over the coming decades could create risks of major disruption to economic and social activity, on a scale similar to those associated with the great wars and the economic depression of the first half of the 20th century. It will be difficult or impossible to reverse these changes”, said Mattew Hayden from Trade Plus Aid, PPP’s consultant on the Bio-gas project at the annual general meeting. “PPP’s biogas project will contribute in this regard,” he said.

According to Hayden eight farms are already participating in PPP’s Bio-gas Project. A further eleven lagoons are earmarked to be developed for biogas purposes. A full environmental impact assessment is also in progress.

Al public meetings, scoping reports and heritage assessments have been completed for all the sites. The groundwater reports will be completed by the end of September and the wetland assessments will commence in mid September, Hayden said.