The institutional economics of foot-and-mouth disease control: A conceptual and systemic analysis of governance failure in South Africa

This study investigates challenges linked to Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) control in South Africa, moving beyond traditional epidemiological explanations to examine underlying institutional misalignments. Applying a qualitative, framework-guided synthesis of secondary and grey-literature sources through a New Institutional Economics (NIE) lens, the research analyses how fragmented governance, misaligned incentives, and transaction costs undermine the efficacy of veterinary services and perpetuate systemic vulnerability. The analysis identifies institutional misalignments between national policy and provincial implementation, creating barriers to service access for smallholder and communal producers. These structural gaps hinder disease surveillance and discourage collective action, leading to a breakdown in compliance and trust within the animal health system. By applying a diagnostic lens grounded in NIE, the study identifies six interrelated institutional constraints and reveals that technical solutions are constrained by the human-centric behavioural drivers and structural rigidities of the regulatory environment. To address these deficits, the paper proposes a transition toward an adaptive, public-private governance model. Key recommendations include the formalisation of co-financing mechanisms, the decentralisation of extension services, and the establishment of robust Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). This shift aims to lower information asymmetries and align the interests of state, commercial, and communal stakeholders. Ultimately, the study offers a diagnostic framework, grounded in the South African case, that may serve as a candidate approach for analysing veterinary governance in other institutionally comparable settings, arguing that sustainable disease management is achieved not through technical fixes alone, but through the reform of institutional architectures to foster inclusivity, equity, and long-term resilience.