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At the invitation of Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture Cem Özdemir, the state ministers responsible for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, and Saxony exchanged information on the current status of African swine fever (ASF) and protective measures in the affected federal states in a video conference. The meeting was also attended by the State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Silvia Bender, who heads the Central Animal Disease Crisis Unit.
Prior to the meeting, Cem Özdemir stated, "Our goal is to stop the spread and eradicate ASF. As the federal government, we will assume our coordinating role to a greater extent. A key factor is significantly reducing the number of wild boar. We are already addressing this challenge together with the federal states. We are also negotiating with the European Commission on how we can financially support pig farms in accordance with subsidies."
Regarding the cooperation with Poland, Cem Özdemir emphasized: "Even if we have different ideas, we want to continue discussions with Poland, because the infection pressure from wild boars migrating from there is still high. I welcome the fact that the Commission is also planning an EUVET mission to Poland for early 2022."
One recommendation from the EUVET advisory group was to establish a coordinated procedure and uniform documentation with regard to ASF monitoring in the countries. To this end, the federal and state governments agreed on different measures as part of the federal state working group deliberations on animal disease control in early December: increased surveillance, serology and virology on carcasses, roadkill and healthy hunted animals in a radius of approximately 50 kilometers to the west around the entrances in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony (Meißen district) to obtain more precise information on the westward spread of cases. Monitoring for early detection of ASF in the other ASF-free states is also being intensified.
December 23, 2021/ BMEL/ Germany.
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