Separate reviews by MPI’s chief science adviser Dr John Roche and disease management expert Roger Paskin for DairyNZ looked into the cause and possible impacts of the backlog of cases as a result of the tracing surge actioned in April.
The reviews make 43 recommendations to improve the systems and processes of the M bovis programme, including greater regional decision-making, the importance of farmer involvement and improving structures, systems and resourcing.
Director-general of agriculture Ray Smith said the reviews give concrete ways to improve the response.
In particular, the backlog of trace animal movements that prompted the surge of activity in the lead-up to winter cattle movements was disappointing, Smith said.
“We’re very sorry for the impact that this has had on affected farmers and that we had to take the action we did at a busy time of year for many of them.
“I think we let farmers down in the local communities at a point in the year that was very important to them.
“I would like to say I’m very, very sorry on behalf of all of us here at MPI,” Smith said.
MPI probably underestimated the scale and complexity of the response programme.
It remains focused on completing testing for the farms affected by the surge as quickly as it can so farmers can get back to farming.
Roche found the backlog built up because of issues managing the flow of information between functions and in the disease management team’s structure and resourcing.
The backlog was smaller than initially thought and while it was primarily trace movements that built up this year, some of the movements dated back to 2018.
While the backlog might have allowed some further spread of the disease Roche does not believe it has affected the chances of eradicating M bovis.
The independent Technical Advisory Group has also been asked to consider the impact of the backlog and is expected to report back soon.
Paskin identified issues related to the programme structure, staffing, training, management and supporting tools that resulted in a backlog of cases dating back, in a number of cases, about seven months.
The primary cause was an accumulation of animal movement traces to and from infected properties that had not been followed up.
Smith said the programme is working hard to implement the recommendations, starting with enabling more regional decision-making and rolling out a bespoke data management system.
“Eradicating M bovis from New Zealand is a huge challenge.
“However, we remain confident that by working in partnership with industry and farmers on the ground we can succeed and make sure NZ can farm free from this disease in the future.”
DairyNZ chairman Jim van der Poel said actioning the 43 recommendations from the reviews will have a significant impact.
“M bovis has a financial and emotional impact on the lives of affected farmers.
“The findings from these reviews will improve processes that will strengthen the programme and help farmers affected by the disease.
“We’ll be working with MPI and Beef + Lamb NZ to make sure this happens,” van der Poel said.
B+LNZ chairman Andrew Morrison said the improvements to the programme should go a long way to ensuring farmers dealing with the disease are better supported.
“The phased eradication of M bovis is complex and challenging and we know affected farmers and rural communities are hurting.
“Implementing these recommendations gives us the best possible chance to eradicate the disease,” Morrison said.
It was projected that up to 250 Notices of Direction restricting cattle movement might be issued as a result of the surge but that fell short at just 171 NODs with 304 farms put under Active Surveillance.
Of those NODs 116 are beef properties, 23 dairy and 32 grazing or lifestyle.
“It is positive that there were fewer dairy farms requiring restrictions as beef properties present a much lower risk of spreading the disease,” MPI said.
