EUR64m avian flu compensation for Italy’s poultry farmers

Only in Taiwan has the highly avian influenza virus (HPAI) been reported in the last week. The disease situation in India has been resolved, and farmers in Italy are set to receive financial aid following outbreaks in 2017.

(Wol Wol | Freeimages.com)
(Wol Wol | Freeimages.com)

Only in Taiwan has the highly avian influenza virus (HPAI) been reported in the last week. The disease situation in India has been resolved, and farmers in Italy are set to receive financial aid following outbreaks in 2017.

Taiwan’s animal health agency has reported a single outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) over the past week.

Earlier in July, two cases of HPAI of the H5N2 virus variant were detected among a group of 14 native chickens at a slaughterhouse in the Wanhua district of Taipei, after suspicious signs were observed in the carcasses during post-mortem examination. All the carcasses in the batch were destroyed.

Avian flu resolved in Indian state

The H5N1 HPAI situation in Orissa has been “resolved,” according to the latest report from the Indian agriculture ministry to the OIE. This follows a series of nine outbreaks of the disease in two districts of the eastern state between December of last year and March 2019.

Italy: Poultry farmers to receive compensation for 2017 HPAI outbreak losses

The European Commission has granted EUR32.1 million (US$36.0 million) to support the Italian poultry sector for the damage it suffered as the result of the HPAI outbreak in 2017-18. According to the ANSA news agency, the sum will be matched by the Italian authorities, making a total of EUR64.2 million to support affected producers.

The Italian government reports that agriculture minister Gian Marco Centinaio expressed his satisfaction at the outcome, adding that the compensation would help numerous poultry farmers overcome production losses arising from the outbreaks. Losses were incurred as the result of, for example, lost egg production, poultry meat, and breeder birds.

EUR16 million had already been granted by the European Commission to compensate Italian farmers for their losses arising from HPAI outbreaks in 2016 and 2017.

According to the Italian health authority and research organization for animal health and food safety (IZSVe), 2.7 million of the country’s birds were infected during the 83 HPAI outbreaks, which were caused by a virus of the H5N8 subtype.

The outbreaks occurred in two epidemic waves during 2017 — January-May, and July-December — with most of the losses during the second period. Lombardy was the province where the majority of outbreaks occurred (47), followed by Veneto (27), with cases also in Emilia Romagna, Piedmont, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and Lazio.

Costs of eradication of the disease have been estimated by IZSVe at around EUR40 million.

Although other European Union countries were impacted by HPAI at that time, Italy was particularly badly impacted, with most of the outbreaks in the turkey sector. By comparison, the broiler sector fared comparatively well.

As a result of the HPAI outbreaks, the country’s turkey meat output in 2017 was almost 7% lower than the previous year, although producer prices were notably higher. Lower national output led to 14% more poultry meat imported to meet Italian demand than in 2016.

The Italian poultry sector has shown signs of recovery since 2017. Latest figures from the national farmers’ union, Unaitalia put the total value of the Italian poultry meat sector — in terms of economic and employment benefits — at EUR7.9 billion in 2018. This was 0.45% more than the previous year, which is a faster rate of growth than the 0.3% increase in the national economy generally. Total value of the poultry supply chain had an estimated total turnover of EUR21.7 billion last year.

View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.

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