ASF Poland: Lockdown for 450 pig farms

All farms are located around the finisher farm where African Swine Fever (ASF) was recently found. There are 61 pig farms in a 3 km radius in the area. The surveillance area with a 10 km radius has another 391 pig farms. The farms have over 30,000 pigs in total.

Most important pig province

The farms in the surveillance area cannot send pigs off for at least 1 month. In the infected area, this timeframe is even longer. Polish pig producers are complaining that the authorities are not putting enough effort in the battle against the expansion of ASF. Greater Poland province is the country’s most important pig province.

ASF found near the German border

The virus has been around in Eastern Poland since 2014, but was discovered in a separate cluster in wild boar in Western Poland in November 2019. Ever since it spread to 720 sites in 3 provinces in Western Poland, including 2 farm sites. The virus has been found in a wild boar at a 10 km distance from the German border. Germany is one of the largest pig producing states in Europe and any transfer of the virus into the German wild boar population might have far-reaching consequences for the German export position.