Germany busy with ASF prevention

The German authorities are considering more intensive measures to keep African swine fever (ASF) outside the country's borders. Various measures are also being taken in Poland. 

The need is great, because the virus has now surfaced among wild boars in Western Poland, barely 10 kilometers from the German border. It also threatens to spread further to Germany. 

Prevention group
German Agriculture Minister in Lower Saxony, Barbara Otte-Kinast, announced this week that her state wants to follow in the footsteps of North Rhine-Westphalia by setting up a team to focus on outbreak prevention. She insists that other states follow suit. This is because rapid, consistent and coordinated action is critical to ensuring that an outbreak of ASF in wild boars in Germany spreads rapidly. 

Tasks include cleaning up infected carcasses, disinfecting the area and hunting infected boars. This would significantly reduce the chances of the disease spreading in that environment. The ability to quickly install fences would help limit boar roaming.

Border Protection
The German government is also pushing for the construction of a fence on the Polish border. Ursula Nonnemacher, the minister of health and consumer protection recently stated this. The fence is intended to prevent infected wild boars from entering Germany through the Polish border. The idea came about after a meeting of German and Polish experts who want to curb the outbreak of the AVP.

According to Nonnemacher, Germany will bear the costs of the construction of the fence on Polish territory. The details of the construction project are yet to be discussed. The agriculture ministries of both countries must first approve the plan for the construction of the fence.

Poland wants to improve AVP control
Poland has indicated that it also wants to improve the AVP control, which so far has not been very effective. For this, Warsaw offers a special fund to the value of €31,1 million. This amount is mainly intended to finance biosecurity on the pig farms and to promote premiums for hunting and locating wild boars. The fund should also be used for the construction of security fences and the payment of compensation.  

However, according to Polish pig farmers, the current measures do not go far enough. The Polpig, the national association of pig producers, calls on the government to take further steps. Polpig also calls for the establishment of a central crisis team. Furthermore, the association wants to significantly expand the hunting of wild boars.

Chanti Oussoren

Editor at Boerenbusiness who studies the dairy, pig (meat) and feed markets.

c.oussoren@boerenbusiness. Nl

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