An additional 2,000 animals from livestock units will be culled due to the foot and mouth disease (FMD), director general of the ministry of agriculture and rural development, Andreas Gregoriou said on Monday.
Speaking after a meeting with affected farmers and director of the veterinary services, Christodoulous Pipis at the agriculture ministry, Gregoriou said outstanding compensation payments to four farmers affected by FMD would continue once the culling is completed.
He announced that another meeting on the matter would take place at the office of the assitant attorney general on October 14, while a further meeting with all agricultural organisations and livestock farmers’ representatives to inform them about compensation plans was scheduled for October 19.
“On October 19, we will have a meeting with all agricultural organizations and livestock breeders’ representatives to inform them about the compensation plans for loss of income, as well as the incentives for the reconstruction of livestock,” he said.
Gregoriou spoke of a “particularly useful and productive meeting” during which many concerns and questions of livestock farmers were answered.
“We have decided that in some cases the veterinary services will communicate with the livestock farmers to answer individual technocratic issues,” he said.
According to Gregoriou, a three-member technical committee would work with the farmers to record the animal population and its characteristics before the culling process, in order to facilitate compensation.
Gregoriou said that livestock farmers would be compensated for the destruction of the milk destroyed by September 23, adding that the compensation for the culled animals would proceed once the cullings were completed.
He emphasised that there was “no resurgence” of FMD, noting that this could be confirmed by the veterinary services.
“We are talking about older cases that occurred a few months ago, however, it was ultimately decided by the competent authority, which had to investigate these characteristics together with the European Commission, that these animals should be killed,” he explained.
The director general said that a total of five units have been identified as affected by FMD since July 10.
“We believe that, with the checks that will be carried out, there are no expected other cases that will prevent the reactivation of the affected livestock farmers,” he said.
Gregoriou empahasised that desinfection and biosecurity measures must continue to be implemented, stressing that vaccinations were the only way to limit the spreading of the virus.
“In any case, disinfections should continue. Biosecurity measures must be implemented and the only way to limit the spread of the virus is vaccination, the vaccination program that is nearing its end, as well as the biosecurity measures that all livestock farmers are obliged to implement, as well as the competent services to ensure that these measures are implemented,” he said.
Responding to a question regarding the four cases of livestock farmers whose compensation is pending, Gregoriou referred to the October 14 meeting, saying the meeting would be attended by Agriculture Minister Christos Senekis, as well as director of the veterinary services, Christodoulous Pipis “with the aim of finding a solution to the problem that exists”.
“All payments that are public money should be made within the framework of legality and that is why there is communication with the legal service,” he said, “Our goal is to pay (the livestock farmers) as soon as possible within the framework of legality.”
Director of the veterinary services, Christodoulous Pipis, said his department would carry out further checks to confirm that the virus was not present to reconsider submitting a request to be granted the status of a country free of FMD, however clarifiedt that the granting of the status “is not going to happen anytime soon, but in this context we must carry out these tests.”
“The goal of the service is not to kill animals. The goal of the service is to treat animals and ensure their survival, so killing animals is not something that pleases or satisfies us. We do not want to kill (animals) either, but we are obliged by virtue of the responsibilities assigned to us by law to implement something that we are not happy to implement” Pipis said.
Asked about the procedure that would be followed in the event that other units with FMD were detected during the checks, he said that the case-by-case protocol that must be implemented will be followed and that each case would be evaluated individually.
Pipis said that the farmer of the two fat-tailed sheep and red cow farms, which fall under special regulations as they are considered “traditional breeds”, has been asked to inform the relevant authorities of the new location of the animals, to ensure that the reactivation of other livestock farmers in the area will not be obstructed.
Regarding the red cow farm, he said that “an issue has been raised with us today, which we will review in the context of the holistic management of the case of traditional breeds.”
Asked when decisions on the breeding of traditional breeds could be expected, Pipis said “it depends on the case by case and at what stage the entire management of disinfection, cleaning and preparation of the premises for reactivation, as well as of the neighboring farms, is, precisely to avoid any possibility of a relapse and reappearance of the disease in the specific regions, so as not to bring us to a worse stage than we found ourselves in February.”
He added that an additional 2,000 animals would be culled.
With regard to the timetable for the control animals, to which Agriculture Minister Christos Senekis had referred earlier, Pipis said that an exact timeframe could not yet be determined.
“It may happen earlier than what the Minister said, so we cannot tell you a clear date,” he said, adding that “we will try not to let the culling process hold us back.”
Meanwhile president of the of the “voice of livestock breeders”, Neophytos Neophytou, said that the group did not support any further cullings.
“We do not support any killing, not only of sheep and goats, nor of cows, nor of pigs, nor of the kitten that has become so popular in recent days, because we are talking about animals that give life to families,” he said.
“Beyond that, today the good news we have is that the 2 cases will be re-examined so that we can see if there is anything positive, both for the resettlement of the red cows to a place where they can be allowed to stay alive – just as the fat-tailed sheep will be – and for the unit in Aradippou, if there is a chance that the animals can be saved,” Neophytou added.
He said that the livestock units were ready to start operating again, and that they were waiting for compensation for lost income.
This, he said, would ensure that the local livestock industry would “once again bring joy to the world of sheep and goat breeders, who have been deprived of prosperity and joy for the last 11 months.”