Friday, March 29, 2024

Farmers urged to have Nait say

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A nationwide effort to strengthen New Zealand’s animal tracing programme has ramped up with the public being asked to have a say on proposed changes to fix a system that hasn’t worked well.
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Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor said the outbreak of the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis exposed holes in the National Animal Identification and Tracing scheme that should have worked better and he’s determined to rectify the flaws.

“The Nait scheme should have worked better during the Mycoplasma bovis response and I’m determined to help transform it into an easy-to-use, world-class traceability system to keep our primary sectors and economy safe,” O’Connor said. 

Following the release of a review earlier this year and consequent recommendations for improvement by OSPRI, the organisation that oversees Nait, the Primary Industries Ministry has opened public consultation on the proposed changes.  

“Now everyone who has an interest in Nait can have a say on proposed ways to strengthen it for the future,” O’Connor said.

“We need to ensure Nait works properly and continues to do so well into the future,” MPI acting director of biosecurity and animal welfare policy Andrew Bell said.

The Nait review found a variety of flaws in the system and more than half of users are not recording farm-to-farm movements.

On the back of the review and with lessons from the M bovis response MPI has proposed 37 changes to the laws governing Nait. 

Bell said it’s critical New Zealanders have confidence in Nait’s effectiveness.

“M bovis has shown how significant and widespread the impact an outbreak of an animal disease can have on the farming sector and our rural communities.

“We have also seen how important it is to have an effective system for tracing the movements of livestock, particularly during a biosecurity response.

“We need to ensure Nait works properly and continues to do so well into the future,” Bell said.

“We instructed OSPRI to crack on with making operational changes and fixed the Nait Act 2012 under urgency to bring its search and inspection powers in line with other Acts to ensure compliance officers can do their jobs,” O’Connor said.

“Now we need to hear from those who use Nait every day to tell us what changes to the law will make the system both a useful business tool and effective biosecurity tool.

“At the heart of these proposals is a shared desire by the Government, farming industries and all New Zealanders to improve Nait to keep our primary sectors safe and ensure those blatantly disregarding the rules and putting the rest of the sector at risk are penalised.” 

Proposed changes look at ways to tighten rules around handling untagged animals, improve the use of data and align penalties with other laws to reflect the seriousness of non-compliance with Nait. 

It also discusses longer-term improvements such as including other species and specifying roles for transporters and stock agents.

Federated Farmers is in sync with the Government’s determination to revamp Nait into a more effective and easy-to-use system and urges farmers to speak up on the changes they want to see.

“The launch of consultation on improvements to Nait is a vital step in streamlining and future-proofing this tool,” federation president Katie Milne said.

Good progress has been made getting on with some of the 37 recommendations in the Nait review released earlier this year.

Included in the consultation are questions that go further than the Nait review, including the role of animal transporters, issues around stock agents and potentially bringing other species under the scheme.

“Now we have another chance to further hone the scheme into the effective farming, traceability and biosecurity tool we need it to be,” Milne said. 

“Farmers, the people who use Nait every day, have a huge stake in this and will no doubt have ideas on how to make Nait more fit for purpose.

“The M bovis outbreak has underscored for us why we need to get this right and Federated Farmers will certainly seize this chance for input,” Milne said.

Beef + Lamb NZ is also encouraging farmers to have their say.

Chief executive Sam McIvor said sheep and beef farmers know improvements need to be made to animal traceability systems and it’s important farmers make sure any changes deliver benefits and are workable on-farm.

“We’re all aware that changes need to be made to Nait and while B+LNZ is supportive of many of the proposals being consulted on, any changes must be practical for farmers to implement,” McIvor said.

Public consultation opened on October 30 and ends on December 19.  

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More information including the consultation document and submission form is available on MPI’s website: www.mpi.govt.nz/NAITconsultation

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