Ukrainian government pays compensation for ASF outbreak

The government of Ukraine has offered the sum of UAH44.7 million (US$2.1 million) to help prevent and eliminate African swine fever, reports Interfax-Ukraine.

The government of Ukraine has offered the sum of UAH44.7 million (US$2.1 million) to help prevent and eliminate African swine fever, reports Interfax-Ukraine.

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, has ordered that every pig farm and processing plant in the country is checked for the virus, which affected a large farm at Kalyta in the region of Kiev at the end of July, leading to the death or destruction of all 61,800 animals on the premises.

At a briefing, Deputy Head of the State Veterinary and Biosecurity Service Oleksandr Verzhikhovsky announced the redistribution of the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food’s budget toward disease control. He added that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have offered assistance with control operations, and he requested help in the provision of disinfectants and other biosecurity equipment.

Verzhikhovsky added that there are ongoing criminal investigations into the possibility that there have been unauthorized movements of pigs from other areas of the country, which may have spread the virus.

According to reports sent by the Ministry to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the first signs of the African swine fever virus in the Kiev region were seen in wild boar in May, when an animal found dead tested positive for the virus. Since then, deaths have been reported among village pigs but the outbreak at Kalyta is the first in a commercial herd. More than 300 animals died and the rest are being destroyed.

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