English (UK) 
Nederlands 
Dansk 
Français 
Deutsch 
Ελληνικά 
فارسی 
Русский 
Español 
Svenska 
The German Ministry of Agriculture is continuing its information campaigns on the prevention of African swine fever.
According to the federal government, there is sufficient laboratory capacity for studies on African swine fever in the German herd. In neighboring Poland, a third of the country has now been declared a 'contaminated area', and strict bans apply. German eastern states are now building fences along the border in an attempt to prevent the arrival of infected wild boars.
There are projects in Germany for the detection and disposal of dead wild boar carcasses with hunting dogs in Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein. The number of affected businesses has increased again, with one of the new cases located 50 km from the German border.
The Chief Veterinary Officer in Poland has now reported 7 new outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) in pigs in the territory of the Republic of Poland. Outbreaks have increased significantly in the past two weeks. Since July 20, 30 new infections of pigs have been detected in the country. This situation not only leads to the need to slaughter thousands of animals, but also to include a large number of herds in the blue zone (transport bans).
Market observers in Poland speak of a dramatic situation. So far, nearly 50,000 pigs had to be killed in the first half of this year due to ASF cases, which is more than in all of 2019. In the previous year, 48 ASF outbreaks occurred in domestic pigs in Poland; already 37. All farm sizes were affected - from farms with two pigs to a manure facility with 9,500 animals. In total, more than 35,000 pigs had to be killed in 2019.
Aleksander Dargiewicz of the Polish Pig Breeders Association POLPIG says that ASF disease affects not only pig farmers but the entire food industry and has a significant impact on the state budget. Transport restrictions in the blue zones make production unprofitable. The lack of slaughterhouses slaughtering pigs from those zones, which house 36% of the country's pig herd, has drastically reduced purchase prices.
According to Dargiewicz, the fight against African swine fever is extremely difficult and above all expensive. According to him, there should be much more hunting of wild boars, carcasses must be removed from the forest, and biological protection of pig herds must be developed.
