2023-11-02 21:27:26
The Minister of Agriculture promised this Thursday that the State would be “responsible” in the face of the surge in the number of farms affected in the South-West by epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EMD). This pathology weakens animals and disrupts trade. However, the terms of this support were not presented.
At Sébastien Capdevielle’s farm, in Monein (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), for example, seven of the cows on this farm contracted the disease while they were expecting babies. All have lost their calves, and one is still sick. In the enclosure, the emaciated animal has lost around 200 kg and can barely stand up, explains the 35-year-old breeder. His veterinarian, Eric Lamazou, speaks of a “health storm”. “I have been practicing for thirty years and I have never seen this: out of the 450 farms in my charge in the area, 200 have declared the disease,” he testified.
Disrupted trade flows
Since the first cases in mainland France spotted in September on farms in the South-West, the number of outbreaks has jumped. There are now 2,136, mainly in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Hautes-Pyrénées, according to the ministry.
The disease, harmless to humans, mainly affects deer and cattle. Biting midges transmit it from one ruminant to another. It causes fever, weight loss, mouth lesions, breathing difficulties, lameness. Most often, the cows survive. But MHE disrupts trade – shipments of live cattle to Algeria are still impossible – and entails costs for breeders (screening, care, loss of value on animals that cannot be exported, etc.).
The federation of beef cattle breeders (FNB), a specialized section of the majority union FNSEA, said in a press release on October 27 that it expected “announcements from the State as soon as possible regarding the compensation they should receive.”
In a press release on Thursday, the Ministry of Agriculture mentioned “an action plan to support the sector and mitigate the impact of this disease for breeders”, once once more without specifying its outlines. It simply indicates that the State will fully cover the cost of screening “in the event of clinical suspicion”.
In Sète, the port is in “snail mode”
Breeders are not the only ones to suffer from the situation. In Sète (Hérault), the leading European port for exporting live livestock, mainly to Algeria, the stockyard has experienced “zero activity” since the announcement of the first cases, laments its director Laurent Trémoulet. “We are in snail mode, we are trying to wait until the situation resolves,” he adds.
The French authorities have agreed with Spain and Italy to continue shipping live cattle to these countries, including from infected areas (following PCR testing and disinfestation). “In these crises, we see that we are very dependent on exports and we must be able to add value locally”, in particular by fattening animals in France, underlined the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fresnau .
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