Ticks that suck the blood of South Africa’s cattle are developing resistance to the only pesticides that kill them and have become increasingly difficult to control. If not contained, the spread and resistance to pesticides of these small parasites will affect farmers’ incomes and could reduce the country’s meat and milk production.
South Africa has approximately 12.2 million cattle. The ticks that live on cattle carry pathogens that can cause deadly diseases like anaplasmosis (which causes fever and anaemia) and babesiosis (which causes fever and progressive anaemia).
The potential impact of ticks on South African agriculture is magnified by the sector’s peculiar circumstances. South Africa’s farming community consists of two agricultures: a large number of subsistence farmers with limited resources and a smaller number of commercial farmers. The country also has a large number of tick species and a diverse landscape (habitat and climate) in which ticks can breed and cattle can be farmed. Warm, humid conditions normally lead to faster tick development, which could result in quicker resistance development.
