The council's resolution
The Lombardy Region allocates 725.000 euros of funds to the provinces and metropolitan city of Milan as a contribution for the carrying out, by the provincial police, of wild boar control activities and prevention of the spread of ASF-African swine fever. This is what is foreseen by a resolution approved by the Council on the proposal of the councilor for Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, Alessandro Beduschi, with the agreement of the councilor for Security and Civil Protection, Romano La Russa. “The Region's commitment against the spread of ASF – declares councilor Beduschi – is constant and the controversies of those who would like to attribute the emergency to flaws in the biosecurity procedures on pig farms are of little value. If these have occurred, it is necessary to remind all operators to scrupulously follow the provisions to avoid the entry of the virus. However, there is no doubt that this is transmitted by wild boar, a pest species that has proliferated in Italy in recent years also thanks to permissive attitudes".
The breakdown of the amount
“The result of this 'do-goodism' – reiterates Beduschi – can be seen in many of our cities, where these animals are now arriving more and more often. For this reason they must be stopped with adequate depopulation policies, as foreseen by the National Plan prepared by the extraordinary commissioner, Vincenzo Caputo". The total amount will be divided following three criteria. 100.000 euros are divided equally between the Provinces (with the exclusion of Monza and Brianza and Sondrio), 312.500 in proportion to the number of wild boars killed by the provincial police in 2022 and a further 312.500 in proportion to the number of pigs raised in the respective provincial territories.
Specialized companies
With these resources, local authorities will be able, among other things, to launch tenders for the assignment of control activities to specialized companies, purchase and rent equipment such as viewers, traps, rifles and manage wild boar carcasses, the main vector of the PSA virus which, reiterated, it is absolutely not dangerous for humans. “These funds – concludes Alessandro Beduschi – will be able to finance the activities of the provincial police over the next two years, which will also be able to make use of private operators and specialized companies. It is about strengthening the depopulation actions of the wild boar. Objective: to try to contain the spread of the ASF virus to safeguard the regional pig herd and the related economic activities of one of the most important supply chains for the Lombardy agri-food sector."
The distribution of funds
Below are the funds available to provinces and metropolitan cities.
Bergamo: 70.200 euros;
Brescia: 117.500 euros;
Cremona: 93.200 euros;
Lodi: 36.700 euros;
Mantua: 89.200 euros;
Pavia: 132.454 euros;
Varese: 54.504 euros;
Milan: 16.400 euros;
Lecco: 14.700 euros;
Como: 99.800 euros.
(Source: Lombardy Region)