Poland is agreeing with the EU on the construction of a fence against the African swine fever

Submitted by bashun on Wed, 05/23/2018 - 16:22

Warsaw is waiting for the conclusion of the European Agency for Food Safety in the construction of fencing on the eastern border, polradio.pl reported.

The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) will assess whether the construction of the fence against the wild boars along the eastern border of Poland will stop the spread of African swine fever. This was reported by the Minister of Agriculture and Development of the village of Poland Krzysztof Jurgel.

"The decision on the fence against wild boars will be taken only after the findings of the EFSA," the Polish minister said. He added that the Polish side had already processed the documents necessary in this case. The minister also said that the examination of the European agency would be ready in July or August.

The bill on the fence is ready, in March consultations on this case were completed. A few days ago, the Minister of Agriculture stressed that the idea was positively assessed by Polish experts. The construction of such fences is being considered by other countries, in particular Germany and Denmark. The virus of ASF has not yet reached these countries.

The construction of the fence should begin this year. Its cost will be approximately 230 million zlotys (more than 53 million euros).

The fence will run along the border with the Kalininhrad region, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. In general, the length will be 1200 km.

The African swine fever virus appeared in Poland in 2014 and has so far been confirmed by more than 2 thousand cases of this disease in wild boars. Probably, the virus was brought to the country by wild beasts from Belarus. Outbreaks of ASF in pigs were found in the eastern voivodeships.

African swine fever is a viral disease that affects domestic pigs and wild boars. The mortality from this disease in farms where pigs are grown reaches 100%. People are not sensitive to a viral infection. However, the disease affects the ability to trade pork and leads to economic losses.

English

Read more