Germany asks Brussels to lift swine fever restricted zone

German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir asked the European Commission on Wednesday (24 August) to end the restricted zone it imposed to mitigate the spread of swine fever in Lower Saxony earlier than planned.

Read the original German story here.

Brussels imposed the restriction zone, which is set to remain in force until October, in the district of Emsland after an African swine fever case was identified at a domestic pig farm in July.

During this time, animals from farms within the zone may only be transported in exceptional circumstances.

“I urgently appeal to the EU Commission to come to a decision here quickly – in the interest of the affected farms,” Green Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir said.

The ministry is lobbying Brussels for “the extensive protective measures taken by the Länder and farms to be rewarded accordingly – for example by shortening the deadline,” the minister added.

The good results of the measures taken call for a lifting of the restrictions, he added.

The European Commission is “aware of the situation” and “in regular contact with the competent German authorities on the issue” regarding a possible reduction of the deadline, a Commission spokeswoman told EURACTIV Germany.

However, as recently as July, the EU executive rejected a similar request for an early end to swine fever restrictions it had imposed in the federal region of Baden-Württemberg.

A ‘dire’ situation

Warnings from the regional government in Lower Saxony as well as affected farms recently increased, indicating that the restriction had made the situation ‘very dire.’

Because many pigs have already reached or exceeded their slaughter weight, space in the stables is becoming scarce, and several farms have already applied for emergency culls.

Regional Agriculture Minister Barbara Otte-Kinast sent an “urgent letter” to her federal counterpart, Özdemir, on Sunday. In the letter, she called on him to lobby the Commission to lift the restrictions as early as the start of September.

In her letter, she referred to “animal welfare-relevant problems” caused by the measures, which she said had recently become even more acute.

Otte-Kinast also argued that the case reported in July was an isolated one and that the entire restriction zone was free of African swine fever. All test results were found to be negative and the incubation period of 15 days had “long since passed without another case,” she added.

Özdemir, meanwhile, explained that the application to Brussels could not have been sent earlier than it had been because “absolutely necessary data” had only been sent to Berlin by the Lower Saxony ministry over the weekend.

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Pig sector under pressure

On top of his application to Brussels, Özdemir said his agriculture ministry is currently in talks with Canada about the country accepting pork from the restricted areas, as Ottawa has so far refused to accept meat from the area since the restriction was imposed in July.

Meanwhile, African swine fever outbreaks in the past months and years have increased pressure on the pig meat sector, which has faced sharp drops in exports as well as producer prices and is barely able to cover production costs.

In Germany, the sector is “suffering massively,” the president of the German Farmers’ Association, Joachim Rukwied, stressed during a press conference on Tuesday.

“The industry is losing 10% of its farms per year,” Rukwied said. “They’re not quitting because they don’t want to keep animals anymore – they’re quitting because they can’t, because they’re economically at the end of their rope.”

“In recent years, many pig farms have given up, not least because of the effects of the African swine fever,” Özdemir also said in his statement, adding that this means “pragmatic and uncomplicated solutions” are now needed.

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[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald/Gerardo Fortuna]

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