Biosecurity risks for African swine fever occurrence in smallholder systems in Gauteng, South Africa

Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Biosecurity risks for African swine fever occurrence in smallholder systems in Gauteng, South Africa
 
Creator Montsu, Keneiloe P. Boshoff, Catharina I. Etter, Eric van Emmenes, Juanita
 
Subject Epidemiology African swine fever; biosecurity; risk; Gauteng; farmers; South Africa
Description African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks in Gauteng province (2012, 2019–2022) occurred outside South Africa’s (SA’s) traditional control zones and highlighted biosecurity deficiencies among smallholder producers. This study aimed to assess biosecurity practices and knowledge gaps among smallholder pig farmers in Gauteng by comparing ASF-free areas with high-risk areas (HRA) that had or had not experienced ASF outbreaks. Between 2020 and 2021, structured interviews were conducted with 137 pig farmers across four municipalities: Ekurhuleni, Lesedi, Tshwane and West Rand. The questionnaire captured data on farm and household characteristics, herd size and ownership, animal health management, biosecurity practices, pig movement and trade, ASF awareness, and potential routes of virus introduction. Farmers in HRA should implement additional biosecurity measures. Key risk factors included the absence of quarantine facilities (p  0.05), improper carcass disposal and limited knowledge of ASF transmission.Contribution: The findings provide baseline data crucial for developing evidence-based ASF control strategies targeting SA’s peri-urban smallholder pig production systems.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor Agricultural Research Council, South African Pork Producers Organisation
Date 2026-05-15
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/ojvr.v93i1.2235
 
Source Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research; Vol 93, No 1 (2026); 8 pages 2219-0635 0030-2465
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/2235/2827 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/2235/2828 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/2235/2829 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/2235/2831 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/2235/2830
 
Coverage Gauteng, South Africa — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2026 Keneiloe P. Montsu, Catharina I. Boshoff, Eric Etter, Juanita van Emmenes https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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