September 10, 2024

 

Italian farmers fear for US$9 billion pork industry due to ASF

Italian swine farmers have raised alarms over the potential devastation to the country's EUR 8.2 billion (US$9 billion) prosciutto, sausage, and pork industry as the government battles its worst outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) since the 1960s, Financial Times reported.

 

The outbreak has left farmers in the northern regions of Italy's swine-producing heartland in crisis.

 

Last month, health authorities imposed a ban on transporting live swine within a 21,000 sq km containment zone in northern Italy. This area is a major hub for swine farming, and the restrictions have resulted in hundreds of farmers being left with around 700,000 unwanted swine, roughly 7% to 8% of Italy's annual swine production.

 

Italy has approximately 8.7 million domestic swine, with the pork industry employing nearly 50,000 people. Products such as prosciutto and cured sausages generate EUR 8.2 billion (US$9 billion) in annual revenue, according to official statistics.

 

Since mid-July, over 50,000 swine have been culled in Italy due to the highly contagious ASF virus, which has been detected on more than 25 farms in Lombardia and Emilia-Romagna.

 

To assist with containment efforts, about 180 Italian soldiers have been deployed, supported by drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras, to track the movements of wild boar within a buffer zone separating infected regions from uninfected areas.

 

The Italian agribusiness association Confagricoltura estimates that the ASF outbreak has cost swine farmers EUR 40 million (US$44 million) in direct losses and an additional EUR 75 million (US$82.7 million) in indirect losses since the virus first appeared on the Italian mainland in January 2022. While the government is compensating farmers for swine culled, it has not yet committed to covering this year's substantial indirect losses.

 

Giovanni Filippini, Italy's newly appointed extraordinary commissioner for ASF, sought to calm fears, stating that the strict restrictions on swine movements should contain the outbreak.

 

"The situation is complex, but it is certainly under control," Filippini said, speaking to reporters this week. "We are very determined in our application of preventive measures with the objective of limiting the circulation of the virus.

 

Filippini stressed that Italy urgently needs to reduce its large population of wild boar, which are the primary carriers of the virus. Boar were nearly extinct in Italy at the end of the 19th century but were reintroduced in the 1950s to meet demand from sports hunters. Today, their population is estimated to be between 1 million and 1.5 million.

 

In May, the Italian government approved a plan to have 177 soldiers hunt wild boar in a bid to reduce their population by 80% over the next five years. However, this mass cull has encountered resistance from both the hunting lobby and environmentalists.

 

The European Union's Veterinary Emergency Team, which conducted a mission to northern Italy in July, also cautioned that hunting wild boar in virus-affected areas could worsen the situation by prompting the animals to migrate and spread the disease further.

 

The EU experts advised Italy to focus on building fences to prevent infected boar from entering new areas, such as Tuscany, rather than hunting them.

 

-      Financial Times