Immediate counteractions and compensation to companies –

Containment of the spread of African Swine Fever, availability to compensate farms for the loss of production due to ASF and commitment to a major action to contain the population of wild boars, the main vectors of the virus. These are some of the main points that the new Extraordinary Commissioner for African Swine Fever Giovanni Filippini put on the table at the meeting with over 500 Coldiretti farmers in the areas affected by the epidemic that is putting an entire sector and the survival of one of the most important PDOs in our country at risk.

The meeting in webinar mode was also attended by the leaders of Coldiretti with the president Ettore Prandini and the general secretary Vincenzo Gesmundo. Filippini outlined to the breeders the strategies he intends to implement and that will start precisely by limiting the number of the wild boar population, reiterating that the breeders should not be blamed for this and that every measure, even drastic ones, should be adopted to prevent the spread of Psa in the provinces bordering those affected so far (Lodi, Pavia, Vercelli and Novara) which represent half of the national pig herd.

“We have asked the Extraordinary Commissioner – said the president of Coldiretti Prandini – whose great skills in this area we know and recognize given what he has done in the past in Sardinia – that the compensation due to the companies damaged by Psa that are in great difficulty today be paid immediately. Certainty of compensation that must not only concern those companies that have suffered the slaughter, but we must take into consideration the issue of the company shutdown, which will concern all those farms that will be forced to remain closed and will not even be able to repopulate. There will then have to be – continued Prandini speaking to the Commissioner and the farmers – constant monitoring of the prices of pigs paid to the farmers to avoid large-scale speculation and finally – he added – it will also be essential to proceed with a stop to loans and contributions for the affected companies. For this reason – concluded the president of Coldiretti – already in these days we will return to meet the institutions so that we proceed quickly”.

“We have been raising the issue of this danger for a crucial sector of our agricultural production for 10 years,” Gesmundo declared. “Given the gravity of the situation, we cannot give anyone any discounts when the risk is a supply chain with a value of around 20 billion euros, including production and related activities, one hundred thousand jobs and 10 million animals raised.”

The farmers’ concern. The farmers who spoke expressed all their concerns about a situation that everyone defines as “alarming – as Alberto Cavagnini, a farmer from Brescia, pointed out – for the entire sector. A situation that has now lasted 1000 days and to date has not seen any decisive interventions in the face of great sacrifice by all those companies that have been affected”. Giuseppe Boldini, a farmer from Novara, who had to slaughter 12 thousand heads overnight, is also on the same wavelength: “There is great concern for the future – he explained to the Commissioner – At the moment my children are asking me what we will do, the first thing that is needed is the fundamental compensation to be able to move forward, which is what my family wants to do”.