Farmers are being encouraged to have their say on a proposal to move the Mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis) eradication programme into a National Pest Management Plan as the cross-sector effort moves to a new phase.
M. bovis governance group independent chairman Kelvan Smith said eradication partners — DairyNZ, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, and the Ministry for Primary Industries — were seeking farmers’ views on the plan.
‘‘All our evidence indicates we are in the tail end of the outbreak, meaning we are focused on building evidence that M. bovis is not present, rather than tracing risk events associated with active infection in our national herd.
‘‘With no active confirmed infection in New Zealand we have made good progress, but it hasn’t been easy getting here. The three partners recognise this and want to ensure that the ongoing activity causes minimal disruption to farmers.’’
Ospri had been nominated as the management agency in the plan proposal, Mr Smith said.
‘‘With natural synergies in running the M. bovis Programme alongside National Animal Identification & Tracing and the TBFree Programme, there is potential for up to $15 million in savings across the three programmes.
‘‘We all know how crucial the NAIT system is for the timely tracing of cattle that may have been in contact with infected cattle, and the programme can achieve efficiencies by aligning some aspects of M. bovis testing alongside Tb testing.
‘‘The efforts and sacrifices of farmers cannot be overstated, and the improvements we’ve seen to on-farm biosecurity is heartening. Farmers have been significantly impacted by M. bovis but have also played a key role in the programme making the progress it has. We owe it to the wider sector to continue building on these successes.
‘‘The current administrative model has worked well, providing the necessary support and resources to get us to where we are now. With the next few years focused on background surveillance, a different model, and some different capability, is required to ensure we are getting the best value for the taxpayer and farmer levy payers.’’
While it is expected farmers and rural groups directly affected by M. bovis will notice very little difference under the proposed model, programme partners are seeking feedback on some key changes including:
- establishment of a National Plan, with Ospri appointed as the agency to administer the programme and manage disease to achieve eradication,
- formalising disease control activities through a set of 15 rules to support the eradication objective, and
- new reduced National Plan levy to finance the remainder of the programme.
Feedback on the draft proposal is being sought from the public, especially from those who play an important part in the ongoing success of the eradication effort.
All are invited to provide feedback during public consultation to September 25.
By the numbers
M. bovis Programme numbers on August 14.
Active confirmed properties: 0
Cleared confirmed properties: 280.
Notices of direction applied to properties: 2674.
Tests completed: Nearly 3.3 million.
Compensation paid: — $256.2 million.
Compensation claims paid: 2901.
