Polish poultry farmers are holding their breath as avian flu has been detected again at multiple locations across the country last week. Several outbreaks were confirmed in the past week. Over half a million chickens, broilers, and geese have already been culled.
This year, Poland has recorded 345 outbreaks of avian flu so far, on top of African swine fever in the livestock. In total, more than 12 million poultry birds have been culled. There are insufficient resources to combat the epidemic. The transportation and destruction of culled animals is also a problem because no one anticipated the current scale of infections.
Processing plants were unable earlier this year to keep up with the incineration of culled chickens, which meant they could no longer be transported from poultry farms. Polish companies had to bury the culled animals in pits, which also meant they could no longer claim compensation for them.
The new outbreaks of avian influenza also mean exports must be halted. Only a few months ago, the country had been declared “avian-flu free” following the initial infections. Now the country risks losing major export orders from the United States. This will cause 24 poultry farms to shut down and the export of 31,600 tons of poultry to the US to be canceled.
Avian flu is also on the rise in other EU countries. In October alone, 36 outbreaks of avian influenza were recorded in EU countries, including 25 in Germany.
Moreover, the Polish-European dispute over the appointment of independent Polish judges threatens to escalate further. The EU has already refused to release subsidy funds from the corona recovery fund to Warsaw as long as it continues to resist the EU constitution. In response, Poland has said it will not pay its EU contribution next year.
But in that case, Brussels says, the EU will also suspend all other “regular” EU payments to Poland. This could jeopardize the disbursement of the CAP agricultural funds as well.