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Imprint
African Swine Fever emergency preparedness in the Balkans (ASF-Balkans)
Project
Project code: FLI-IfE-08-Ri-0696
Contract period: 01.05.2019
- 30.09.2019
Purpose of research: Applied research
In the Balkans, rearing pigs is a very common and traditional practice in rural areas, representing an important source of meat and often generating valuable cash income. Should ASF enter the Balkans, the impact on the pig sector would be enormous. It is predicted to rapidly spread throughout the region due to the continuous and dense wild boar population and the highly prevalent backyard sector. Disease prevention and control is most challenging in these settings due to the lower levels of disease awareness among the rural communities, low biosecurity, poor compliance with livestock related regulations and lack of animal identification and traceability. Once the disease enters in the region, it will be very difficult to bring it under control, unless the veterinary services and pig farmers are ready to react promptly and stamp it out. The Balkan countries have not been exposed to the disease, which implies that: (i) the level of awareness among all stakeholders is low (from the veterinarians to the pig farmers and others along the value chain); (ii) the technical knowledge of the disease (laboratory diagnosis and epidemiology) among the veterinary services is also low; (iii) there are no contingency nor surveillance plans in place. The project will assist the Balkan countries to improve their level of preparedness. The needed expertise for in-country assessments and capacity building will be provided. This will be achieved via country missions and desk time for technical backstopping.
Section overview
Subjects
- Animal Husbandry
- Animal health
