Bek-en-klouseer (BKS) has escalated into a full-scale national crisis with serious consequences for South Africa's agricultural trade, rural employment, and food security.
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Bek-en-klouseer (BKS) has escalated into a full-scale national crisis with severe consequences for South Africa's agricultural trade, rural employment, and food security. Vrystaat Landbou (VL) warns that the ongoing failure to contain outbreaks and ensure timely access to vaccines is now directly undermining the country's credibility as a trading partner and putting thousands of farming businesses at risk. Referring to a recent report by the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), Friedl von Maltitz, vice president of VL and a livestock farmer, says that South Africa lost its BKS-free status in 2019 and that the situation has since deteriorated drastically. According to the report, notified BKS cases in 2025 alone have risen to over 24,000 – the highest number on record – with outbreaks spreading to eight of the country's nine provinces. Consequently, the livestock sector has been thrust into a high-load disease scenario. Von Maltitz warns that the economic consequences of ...