Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is devastating the livelihoods of communal farmers throughout South Africa. Living in deep rural areas, their voices often go unheard, but if you visit these areas, you can witness their anxiety as they are unable to take their livestock to auction until the cattle has been vaccinated.
We are not talking about a handful of cattle. Stats SA says that 50% of the approximately 14 million cattle in the national herd belong to emerging and communal farmers. On 15 April, Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen said early data indicates that the current mass FMD vaccination strategy is yielding positive results and is working to protect the national herd. Communal farmers understand that the national response takes time, but the reality is that when you are living on small margins, time is 1 thing you do not have.
‘From November last year, we had to cancel the 27 mobile auctions we normally hold for communal farmers associations in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal,’ says Sarah Frazee, the CEO of Meat Naturally Africa (MN).
‘From December 2025 to March 2026, we could hold only 6 direct sales to MN of vet-checked, slaughter-ready cattle, from which the communal farmers collectively earned R1.6 million, compared to the more than R20 million they would have earned during the same period from our 27 mobile auctions,’ Frazee says.
MN brings mobile auctions to deep rural areas, where participating communal farmers are involved in regenerative rangeland management programmes. At MN auctions, farmers sell their cattle and sheep at competitive prices. Without these mobile auctions, farmers must walk their livestock to the nearest auction, often taking several days.
MN works with 180 communal farmer associations, spanning more than 580 000 hectares from Komani in the Eastern Cape to Ulundi in KwaZulu-Natal. MNA also works in the buffer zone of the Kruger National Park and recently expanded into the Free State.
‘With FMD, we had to stop all our auctions in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape from November last year, as did all the other livestock auction houses,’ Frazee continues. ‘Communal farmers critically need the vaccine, as this is the peak auction time for them. They need to sell before winter sets in and the animals start losing condition. We urgently need state support to target the distribution of vaccines to the communities.’
On 14 April, Frazee attended a meeting in Durban held by the provincial MEC from the Department of Agriculture, which was attended by all the livestock auction houses operating in KwaZulu-Natal. MN was the only auction house present that represented the communal farmers.
‘It came as some relief when they shared the vaccination schedule for KwaZulu-Natal at the meeting. They are prioritising the KwaZulu-Natal districts in which we work, with vaccinations to be completed before the end of June. We will plan our auction schedule to align with this, starting in late April in the Kokstad area,’ Frazee explains.
‘We do not yet have a schedule for communal areas in the Eastern Cape. In the Free State, we are working well with the state vets, who are prioritising the vaccination of communal herds. We are hoping to hold mobile auctions there from November this year.’
The MN mobile auction business benefits from ‘Pioneering innovations for sustaining healthy communal grasslands’, a project focused on empowering communal livestock farmers. The project was launched in January 2025 with the support of the WWF Nedbank Green Trust. MN leads the project and works with 180 communal farmers associations, predominantly in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. The project supports innovative outreach programmes that promote participation in mobile auctions and mobile wool-shearing, as well as regenerative grazing and fire management activities.
Frazee explains: ‘MN’s business approach uses market access as an incentive for farmers to work together to implement regenerative grazing systems on communal land. Through the WWF Nedbank Green Trust project, we are able to engage communal farmers in rangeland rehabilitation, business training, and breed improvement.’
Poovi Pillay, Executive Head of the Social Impact Unit at Nedbank, says: ‘It’s about rewarding communal farmer associations that are committed to restoring degraded grazing lands through regenerative grazing systems, water conservation, wildfire prevention, and the management of invasive alien plants. The importance of this project is highlighted by the fact that an estimated 90% of South Africa’s rangelands are degraded. In many of our communally managed grasslands, poor land and livestock management threatens livelihoods and biodiversity and degrades strategic water catchments.’
‘To achieve grassland, water and biodiversity conservation in our country’s communal grazing areas, we have to start by improving the livelihoods of communal farmers,’ Frazee explains. ‘When farmers see that their livestock are healthy and gaining weight and they start receiving good prices for their cattle, sheep and wool, they experience the benefits of participating in environmental restoration.’
Fortunately, it has been a good season for wool, with communal farmers selling their wool at competitive prices to Fleece Naturally, a division of MN. With funding from the WWF Nedbank Green Trust project, MN incentivises female farmers to become champions against wildfires in their areas by providing wildfire prevention training.
‘In 2026, those with the best records in reducing wildfires will be rewarded with quality sheep to improve their flocks,’ says Frazee. ‘Women make up 40% of the clients in MN’s Fleece Naturally initiative, and our goal is to help them produce better-quality sheep and wool.’
Frazee explains that wildfires often occur in these areas, leading to the destruction of homes and rangelands and resulting in the loss of livestock, wildlife and human life. These fires are often ignited by improperly extinguished cooking fires and children playing with fire. One of the female farmer fire champions’ duties is facilitating fire awareness education in schools.
In the buffer zone of Kruger National Park, MN has entered into a partnership with Sibuyi Abattoir, which distributes poultry to about 30 lodges in the area. ‘We have a mobile abattoir in the Acornhoek area and will partner with Sibuyi for distribution to the lodges. We are also planning direct sales of a signature Meat Naturally–Sibuyi boerewors in Kruger Park shops by the end of the year,’ Frazee explains.
Local people can also buy beef directly from the MN abattoir and sell it within their own communities through spaza shops equipped with freezers.
‘This initiative helps to create a circular economy that benefits communities by retaining financial resources within their area, linking stewardship actions on rangelands to livelihoods, and enhancing food security,’ Frazee concludes.