ZAGREB, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Croatian authorities have decided to step up surveillance of roads and forest paths, set up checkpoints, and provide logistical support to emergency hunting teams using drones, thermal imaging cameras and other available equipment, as part of a new package of measures to curb the spread of African swine fever (ASF).
The decision was announced on Friday after Croatia's national task force on African swine fever, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries David Vlajcic, met in the eastern city of Osijek to review the current epidemiological situation.
Vlajcic said that after three years of battling the disease, nearly half of pig farms still show non-compliance, with more than 20 percent lacking adequate biosecurity, describing the outbreak as a chronic rather than an acute problem for the country's pig farming sector.
The crisis staff also agreed on coordinated dispatch of pigs for slaughter, additional slaughtering and processing capacity, intensified culling of wild boar populations, and further steps to protect domestic pork production and sales, according to the ministry.
Vlajcic said the government was also considering a temporary cut in value-added tax on affected pork products and would compensate farmers ordered to cull their herds for the difference up to market value.
A total of 104 ASF outbreaks have been confirmed at pig farms in Croatia so far this year, while about 190 cases have been detected among wild boars.
Despite its rapid spread and high mortality rate among pigs, ASF poses no threat to human health. The virus does not infect people and cannot be transmitted through the consumption of pork, but it can cause severe economic losses to the farming sector. ■