State of emergency declared in Bulgaria over ASF

Bulgaria has declared a state of emergency after the country has had to cull more than 2 pigs in 130.000 weeks due to African swine fever. The European Commission is therefore pushing for more measures to be taken to save the Bulgarian pork industry.

According to the latest report from the Swine Health Information Center, the virus has now spread to 6 major pig farms and a large part of the 'backyard farms' in the country are struggling with the disease. These are often small-scale and unregistered pig farms. Last week, the first 2 cases of African swine fever were reported in southwestern Bulgaria.

Money from Europe
The Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture recently announced new measures but according to a spokesperson for the European Commission, these are insufficient. That is why Vytenis Andriukaitis, the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, says that the European Union is supporting the country with $3,25 million to set up additional measures.

If the animal disease continues to spread at this rate, there is a chance that the country will lose its entire pig industry, several researchers report. The damage could eventually amount to $1,15 billion.

Kimberly Baker

Kimberly Bakker is an all-round editor at Boerenbusiness. She also has an eye for the social media channels of Boerenbusiness.

k.baker @boerenbusiness. Nl

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