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The authorities should put in substantial efforts in order to stop the spread of the African swine fever and to restart the system of growing pigs in Romania, and this can only be done through assuming by all decision-makers of a Pig Law, according to the representatives of the Romanian Meat Association (ARC).
"I believe that the authorities should make substantial efforts in order to stop the spread of the African swine fever and to resume the system of growing pigs in our country. This could be done through assuming by all decision-makers of a Pig Law, through which clear measures of bio-security can be established, at the level of the population households, to carry out awareness actions in villages, regarding the danger that the African swine flu represents for the regional and national economy and the measures which animal owners should apply in order to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. Furthermore, limiting the number of swine that can be raised for own consumption and forbidding reproduction in households should contribute to a better control of animal movement and meat and would reduce the black market," Dana Tanase, CEO of ARC, declared for AGERPRES.
On the other hand, granting substantial help from the state for developing reproduction farms which would ensure the necessary amount of pigs, thus reducing imports, would be a measure which would reinvigorate the sector and would implicitly raise availability of raw meat for processing, agerpres.ro confirms.
"Maybe at first glance these measures have a unpopular character, but we consider this to be the only solution for Romania to not transform in a new Sardinia, with social-economic implications for decades from now," Dana Tanase added.
According to the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA), in Romania there are 345 active outbreaks of African swine fever.
Since the first signaling of the presence of ASF in Romania, on July 31, 2017, and until now, there were 5,570 boars diagnosed in 41 counties. There is no vaccine for this illness, the only method of protecting the animals' health being respecting the bio-security conditions.
