In order to mitigate the negative economic consequences of the emergence of African swine fever, the Ministry of Agriculture promptly created two aid programs for damaged pig farmers with a total value of 12.5 million euros, it was pointed out.
Although there are different approaches to compensation in European countries, the Ministry noted, Croatia decided on an approach to help all pig producers, taking into account the socioeconomic situation in the affected area.
Thus, the Directorate for Animal Husbandry and Food Quality of the Ministry has already sent more than 100 processed records, and on Friday, August 25, the payment will begin without submitting a request for all farms where pigs were euthanized.
At the same time, support will be paid to owners whose pigs were euthanized by August 20 at the beginning of September and will continue continuously within the support program for the pig farming sector with the possibility of increasing financial resources, the Ministry stated.
Also, they reminded, the European Commission was sent a EUR 5 million Support Program for the pig farming sector to compensate for the loss due to the ordered measures to combat African swine fever, with the possibility of an increase of up to EUR 10 million.
– In addition to the two mentioned programs, the Ministry of Agriculture is preparing the State Support Program for restarting activities as well as the State Support Program for lost profits to producers from category 3 and 4, the Ministry emphasized, adding that the amendment of the Strategic Plan of the Joint Agricultural Commission is also being negotiated with the European Commission policies with the possibility of financing the reconstruction of economies with the intensity of support up to 100 percent.
Measures, education and prevention programs have been implemented for years
The Ministry also reported that it has been implementing measures, education and programs for the suppression of African swine fever for years.
– Even before the appearance of the first case of African swine fever in Croatia, the Ministry of Agriculture implemented numerous preventive measures and activities that maximally delayed the appearance of the disease in our territory despite the fact that some neighboring countries have been recording cases of this disease for a long time, they pointed out.
Thus, among other things, more than 30,000 samples of domestic pigs and 17,000 samples of wild pigs have been searched at ASK in the last four years, and since 2019, the categorization of all facilities where pigs are kept in relation to biosecurity has been carried out, and by July 6 74,368 objects were categorized.