At the Belja farm in Sokolovac, owned by Podravka Agri, the presence of African swine fever (ASF) has been confirmed. Nearly ten thousand pigs must be euthanized, and the entire farm must then be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, from the barns to the feeding systems, the complete infrastructure.
Only then does the hardest task follow, the arrival of pigs. First, 30 animals are brought in, and they must be tested after 30 days, and if there is no virus, they can be moved to the regular barn. After that, a new contingent of 30 pigs comes into quarantine, which again waits separately for the first testing, and only after about 30 days can they join the first group. And so on. In other words, repopulation will take months, if not years, provided there is no new outbreak of the virus.
What does this mean for the Croatian meat industry? Well, a multitude of problems.
Podravka Agri currently manages 37 pig and cattle farms and covers approximately half of Croatia’s pig production. The loss of nearly 10,000 animals reduces production capacity by two to three percent of domestic production, which will almost certainly affect the market, especially if the entire repopulation procedure takes a long time. Yes, we will cover part of it with imports, prices will very likely rise, but questions need to be asked about where the meat will come from and at what prices it will be sold. And who will profit from it (we know how business is done here).
It is also not insignificant to question how the ASF outbreak occurred at Belje. Are mosquitoes to blame as virus carriers, birds that contaminated the water, wild boars (which broke through the electric fence?!) or is it a human factor? That is the most common… If so, did the oversight system fail at Belje or somewhere else? Allegedly, entry to the farm is as secure as Fort Knox, writes Jutarnji. And indeed, those who have been there say that entry is only allowed in special uniforms. ‘Like the ones for space,’ notes one journalist colleague.
