site.btaCabinet Allocates Lv 28 Mln for African Swine Fever Control

108 ECONOMY - AFRICAN SWINE FEVER - FUNDING

Cabinet Allocates Lv 28 Mln
for African Swine Fever
Control


Sofia, August 28 (BTA) - The Government Wednesday allocated 28 million leva to the Agriculture, Food and Forestry Ministry for payment of compensation and all costs involved in the Food Safety Agency's measures against African Swine Fever (ASF), Agriculture Minister Dessislava Taneva told reporters. All measures implemented by the veterinary authorities are in line with the EU's Strategic approach to ASF management of 2015.

Taneva added that this allocation is part of a projected expenditure of 23 million euro requested from the European Commission on August 14. Following audits, the EU will cover some 75 per cent of the payments of compensation for slaughtered pigs, for disinfection and destroyed animal feed.

So far 33 ASF outbreaks have been registered in domestic pigs. Five of them were reported in August and there have been no new outbreaks in domestic pigs in the last two weeks, compared to 28 in July. As to wild boar, 43 ASF-infected areas were registered in ten of the country's 28 regions. An annual plan for wild boar culling has been drawn up and 450 traps are in place. Hunters have also contributed to the reduction of the wild boar population. IG/DD
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