ARC plans new high-tech FMD vaccine production facility in SA

By Jyothi Laldas
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The Agricultural Research Council (ARC) is making major strides in the development and local production of a vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), with plans under way for a state-of-the-art biocontainment facility and a mid-scale production system.

ARC plans new high-tech FMD vaccine production facility in SA
The Agricultural Research Council is advancing efforts to produce a foot-and-mouth disease vaccine in South Africa, tailored to local strains, as the country battles a widespread outbreak of the disease across several provinces.
Photo: Facebook | Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
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This comes at a critical time, as the country battles a major FMD outbreak across the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga.

The ARC is laying the groundwork for a high-containment (biosafety level 3) vaccine production facility, a project that promises to change the trajectory of FMD response and control in the country.

Speaking to Farmer’s Weekly on the back of the recent high-level FMD Indaba held in Roodeplaat, Gauteng, Dr Litha Magingxa, president and CEO of the ARC, emphasised that the council had made significant progress in both vaccine development and diagnostics.

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“We have registered the vaccine and are now procuring equipment for a mid-scale production system that will provide a vaccine by early next year,” he said. “This vaccine will cover all the FMD strains circulating in South Africa and the wider Southern African region.”

Speaking at the indaba, Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen acknowledged systemic failures during recent FMD outbreaks, particularly the lack of available vaccines.

“The national FMD vaccine bank was depleted, and Onderstepoort Biological Products lacks the infrastructure to respond rapidly. We had to import vaccines from Botswana, which isn’t sustainable for a country with South Africa’s livestock footprint,” he said.

Steenhuisen called on the livestock industry to play an active financial role in future preparedness. “We must build a nationally managed but jointly funded vaccine bank, not just for FMD, but also for lumpy skin disease, brucellosis, Rift Valley fever, and other priority diseases,” he explained.

Despite long-standing capacity challenges, the ARC had recorded a financial surplus for the first time in over a decade, thanks to deliberate reinvestment by the department, Steenhuisen added.

He also urged the country to elevate the ARC to international standards through partnerships with institutions like the University of Pretoria’s Biosecurity Hub and by channelling industry levies into research.

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