African Swine Fever: Bulgarian farm where 17 000 pigs culled will get 2M leva compensation
An industrial pig farm in Bulgaria’s Rousse district where close to 17 000 pigs were culled because of an outbreak of African Swine Fever will get more about two million leva (about a million euro) in compensation, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency said on July 23.
European funds are also expected to compensate for farm losses, Bulgarian National Television reported.
The announcement came the same day that the regional governor of Rousse announced a state of emergency for the entire district of Rousse because of African Swine Fever.
Veterinary experts from the European Commission arrived in Bulgaria on July 23 to assess the prevalence of African Swine Fever.
According to Brussels, Bulgaria has taken all the restrictive measures, as provided for in EU legislation, BNT said.
The Association of Industrial Breeders in Bulgaria warned that if the spread of the infection does not stop, pig meat “could become a delicacy”.
The increase in prices of pig meat is also being caused by large-scale outbreaks of African Swine Fever in China and all of South East Asia.
Compensation of 250 leva a pig is being offered to pig farmers who destroy their domestic pigs voluntarily, BNT reported.
According to the most recent official count, there are about 1000 “back yard” pigs in Bulgaria’s Dobrich district, where about a quarter of Bulgaria’s pig-breeding takes place. In fact, there are many more, because farmers conceal them, mayors said at a meeting of the district epizootic commission.
So far, there have been 17 outbreaks of African Swine Fever in Bulgaria this year.
