Pig farmers: the threat of FMD has not yet been prepared by public authorities

The Lithuanian Pig Breeders' Association (LKAA) has written to the Minister of Agriculture, the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Agriculture, the State Food and Veterinary Service, the Seimas Committee on Rural Affairs, urging them to seriously assess the potential threat of FMD and other viral diseases and the consequences of possible losses, take into account the comments made to the Task Force on Communicable Diseases and to the supervising experts of the Ministry of Agriculture and the MoFA and the MoVS on the improvement of the biosecurity rules, and to introduce mandatory biosecurity requirements for at least the items listed above in this letter.

LKAA proposes and requests that the Biosecurity Requirements for Biosecurity in cattle, sheep and goat holdings be updated, that biosecurity training for keepers on the updated rules be intensively conducted, and that biosecurity rules be strictly enforced and that biosecurity controls be implemented.

According to the LKAA, the rules lack a requirement for the mandatory possession and use of basic biosecurity measures by holders, such as disinfection/replacement of footwear, hand disinfection, and the wearing of protective gowns/overalls by persons entering the holding area. There is also no compulsory registration of all visitors to the storage facility.

„There is no provision for protection against the transmission of the virus via tools, appliances and materials used on the farm for the care of livestock, etc. No provision is made for protection against the introduction/spread of the virus via vehicles – loading ramps, arrival of feed, bedding etc., safe disposal of ABP, manure disposal, milk collection, visitor transport etc., no provision is made for disinfection of these vehicles, and avoidance of crossing of the roads with the internal roads of the farm etc.}, the association lists the shortcomings.

„The experience of the pig sector suggests that farmers of other FMD-susceptible animal species are not sufficiently familiar with biosecurity, which requires not only concern, but also serious action – the formation of a responsible attitude of farmers towards biosecurity, and urgent and mandatory measures. We are particularly concerned about the relative slowness of preventive preparations – although FMD can occur at any time, at the moment there is only discussion about recommended biosecurity measures, with fears that mandatory biosecurity measures will allegedly „increase the administrative burden“," said the LKAA in a letter, signed by Algis Baravykas.

It calls for a serious assessment of the potential threat of FMD and other viral diseases and the consequences of potential losses, for taking into account the comments made to the Task Force on Infectious Diseases and to the supervising experts of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) on the improvement of biosecurity rules, and for the introduction of mandatory biosecurity requirements for at least the items listed above in this letter.

„We also suggest and request that you do not delay in updating the Biosecurity Requirements for Biosecurity in cattle, sheep and goat holding places, that you intensively carry out biosecurity training for keepers on the updated rules, and that you start to strictly enforce the biosecurity rules and carry out the biosecurity controls,“, – summarised in the document.