Among the measures, aid to affected breeders in risk areas will be conditional on reductions in density on farms.
More than 19 million ducks and poultry slaughtered and 1378 farms affected. At the end of one of the deadliest episodes of avian flu in France, which affected farms in the South-West then in Vendée in two waves, the government and the poultry and foie gras sectors are getting ready to try to finally find effective firewalls against this very virulent and destructive disease. Thus since 2016, the sector has gone through no less than four major episodes, all completed with massive slaughter of animals, the only effective solution once the virus is installed.
Ultimately, the cost amounts to tens or even hundreds of millions of euros for the sectors. It comes of course from the slaughtered animals – the health cost. But also and above all the loss of earnings linked to crawl spaces, which prevent animals from being put back in the farms for months – the economic cost. This year, the government has estimated at no less than 1.1 billion euros the compensation package that will be paid to producers, including 460 million already deployed. Unheard of… In order not to repeat such a disaster, the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau presented this Friday the main lines of the plan of attack envisaged, before the next high-risk period of winter migration (the virus arriving by wildlife).
Extended Biosecurity
Developed with the poultry and foie gras interprofessions, this roadmap provides for the deployment of detection kits to encourage farmers to test animals as soon as possible. This should make it possible to react more quickly to a positive case. Especially when, like this year, the incubation time for the virus is long. The strict biosecurity measures put in place for five years in farms (cleaning, disinfection, transport, etc.) will also be extended to the maximum to all those who intervene in farms, with more extensive self-checks. A way to limit the introduction of the virus as much as possible.
Still, the hardening of these biosecurity weapons over the years has ultimately often proved insufficient, in the face of increasingly contagious variants of avian flu. The government therefore wants to play on other fronts. With, for the first time, financial incentives to promote good health practices. If the scale of penalties is not yet fixed, any breeder who does not respect biosecurity measures or who is not up to date in the reporting of his breeding or in the information on the movements of his poultry, will be affected in the portfolio. In particular through restrictions on compensation in the event of contamination.
The reduction in densities rewarded
At the same time, producers affected by the slaughter will now be able to claim economic aid for eight months, i.e. beyond the periods of health restrictions hitherto taken into account. But in exchange, they will have to commit to lowering the density of their farms. “This will make it possible both to reduce the density of the areas at risk and to encourage, to compensate, the placement of animals in the free areas.we explain to the ministry, which wishes to rebalance production at the national level.
The subject is very sensitive. Every year, the role of the excessive density of farms in certain areas such as the South West, is singled out. What makes breeders jump. On this sensitive point, the levels of the reduction in the number of animals per square meter will be set by the interprofessions. By next season at the latest.
40% deficit in ducklings
The government thus wants to put these measures in place this year, in an attempt to avoid seeing an already very fragile sector decline. Thus, after the numerous slaughters in Vendée, the stronghold of hatcheries and the production of breeding animals, the deficit in ducklings currently reaches 40%. What to expect from tensions on foie gras for the end of the year period. In poultry and eggs, supply difficulties linked to mass slaughter already appeared in the spring, mainly for food manufacturers.
In the longer term, one of the most promising weapons is looming above all with the vaccination of animals, “even if it can’t be the only answer“, underlines the ministry. Last spring, an experiment worth more than 2 million euros was launched with two candidate vaccines: those of the Ceva Santé Animale and Boehringer Ingelheim laboratories. But the first results, still uncertain, are not expected before the beginning of 2023.