Confagricoltura he learns with disappointment the news given by the Zooprophylactic Institute of two cases of African swine fever in a small farm in the red zone, recently established in Lazio. A serious episode that puts the regional and national pig production chain at risk. The Confederation, expressing strong closeness to the affected entrepreneurs, affirms that this episode is the result of the carelessness with which the PSA emergency has been dealt with up to now. The entry of the virus into the farm near Rome could be avoided with adequate, incisive and timely measures.
Now, Confagricoltura stresses, the time has really come for a change of pace to prevent the economic damage that the only news of spread of the virus among the farms it is capable of producing. First of all, the immediate relaunch of a decisive plan for the containment of wild boar communities, the first vehicle of the disease, is fundamental. At the same time, Confagricoltura affirms, it is equally urgent to grant adequate compensation to affected farmers, to be paid quickly and fairly. Furthermore, there is a need to follow up on the incentives for investments in biosecurity.
Since the discovery of the first wild boar affected by ASF, last January, the export of the Italian pig sector is suffering economic damage quantifiable in 20 million euros per month. The national sector has almost 9 million heads, raised in over 30 thousand farms. With an export of 1,5 billion euros in 2021, the total turnover (production of farms and turnover of the processing industry) nearly 11 billion. Overall, the entire supply chain generates a turnover that is equal to 5% of the total national agricultural production and on the turnover of the entire Italian agri-food industry (source: Confagricoltura).