Belarus compensating households for pigs slaughtered due to swine fever
MINSK. Aug 23 (Interfax) - The Belarusian authorities are compensating households for losses suffered as a result of the slaughter of pigs to stop the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF).
"As for compensation to people, everything will be paid. I, as chief of headquarters, set a target - settlement with the person must be made within two weeks of the confiscation or sale of pigs," Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Rusy said at a meeting on the animal health situation in the pig farming sector and measures to fight the viral disease held by the country's president on Thursday.
Rusy, cited by the president's press service, said compensation would be paid at a price of more than 18,000 Belarusian rubles per kilogram live weight. Households will be compensated for all costs.
In buffer areas, households have the right to either independently slaughter healthy animals and consume them or sell them to meat processors at procurement prices, Rusy said.
He said people have had questions regarding compensation for categories of animals that meat processing plants do not process, and regional executive committees have found a solution to this problem. For pigs weighing less than 30 kg, households are paid 600,000 to 1 million Belarusian rubles per head, "and this is a sufficient sum in order to compensate expenses," Rusy said.
The government, on orders from the president, will work out a number of measures within a week that will allow households forced to get rid of pigs due to ASF to acquire other livestock on a subsidized basis.
"This will be either cattle, or sheep, or geese or ducks. We'll work out all the issues in regard to price, in regard to feed, supplies of formula feed, if a person wants to have additional sources of income for their budget," Rusy said.
He also said that the ASF situation in Belarus is now under control. "The situation has been stabilized, it's manageable. In those population centers where we did certain work, the situation has been fully stabilized," Rusy said.
He said it was necessary to observe all veterinary measures in order to prevent the spread of the disease. The public will be educated on what needs to be done. The country will also tighten responsibility of all leaders for adopting biological protection measures, meeting the requirements of veterinary services, as well as monitoring suppliers of feed who ship uncertified goods. The authorities will also take control of the burial of infected animals, and another six rapid-response labs will be built for veterinary services.
Rusy said the main sources of ASF infection are wild animals, waste and feed, as well as mismanagement. The ASF virus is not very stable, can be destroyed by special agents and dies at high temperatures, but a vaccine has not yet been developed.
The official exchange rate on August 23 was 8,930 Belarusian rubles/$1.
