French pig farmers are holding their breath as they follow the path of African swine fever in Europe. The detection of an outbreak in a small German farm, located a few kilometers from the French border, on Wednesday May 25, raised the level of vigilance a notch. In a press release published Thursday, the French Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, announced the holding of a crisis meeting, Monday, May 30, on this subject. “The industry is very worried. Although African swine fever has been present on German territory since September 2020, it has mainly been detected so far in the east of the country, near the Polish border.explains Jeff Trebaol, breeder in Finistère and vice-president of the National Porcine Federation.
“About four thousand cases have been referenced, mainly in wildlife. The next few days will be crucial to find out if cases of contamination are spotted in Germany near the French border in wildlife., he adds. With the risk of transmission of the disease on the French side. “The chance that we have is that there is a natural border with the Rhine”, tries to put François Valy, vice-president of the Inaporc interprofession, into perspective. Before this warning shot, all eyes were on Italy.
“African swine fever broke out in northern Italy in January. There are 128 cases, some of which are 85 kilometers from France. For fifteen days, it has also been detected near Rome », says Mr. Trebaol. Everyone still remembers the commotion of the sector, with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture, when wild boars infected with African swine fever were reported in Belgium, not far from the French border, in January 2019. Authorities had pledged to build a fence between the two countries in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus. With success.
Keep the right to export
This animal haemorrhagic fever, which does not present a danger to humans but is fatal for infected pigs or wild boars, appeared in Eastern Europe in 2014. The first outbreaks were discovered in Poland and the Baltic countries. Then the virus spread across the continent. It also hit China hard. The challenge for France, as for its neighbours, is to preserve the virus-free status, which allows pig farmers to export outside the European perimeter. A status lost by Germany and Italy, but recovered by Belgium in 2021.
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