African swine fever, the next disaster announced?

Do you remember Xylella Fastidiosa? That bacterium that killed millions of olive trees in Puglia, causing unprecedented environmental, economic and landscape damage? A disaster that could have been contained or even avoided if the
politics had done its job. In fact, to prevent the spread of the infection, the regulations provide for the felling of infected trees and those nearby. A drastic measure, but which if implemented immediately allows to contain the spread of the bacterium.

But between the “no to grubbing” front led by Michele Emiliano (PD), the fake news spread by the 5 Star Movement – Beppe Grillo defined Xylella as a hoax – the administrative and reimbursement slowness, we have come to accumulate chronic delays in the management of the infection which consequently turned out to be totally out of control. The European Court of Justice itself has condemned Italy for failing to adopt the preventive measures established by the European Commission.

Today we are faced with a new announced catastrophe: the African swine fever, a virus that affects suidae (wild boars and pigs), fortunately totally harmless to Man. For the moment, the disease seems to be limited to wild boars, in some areas of the country: Sardinia, Piedmont, Liguria and north of Rome. But if the virus reached the numerous pig farms in Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, the consequences would be disastrous: obligation to slaughter all livestock and block the export of pork-based products (hams, cured meats), times for the recovery of rearing and production measurable in years. Colossal economic damage is expected for the entire sector and devastating image damage for our PDOs and Made in Italy.

The battle is not easy at all: it is an extremely resistant virus and as for Xylella, to avoid the worst, it is necessary to act very quickly and concretely. Among the many countries that are facing the African swine fever emergency, two have managed to defeat the virus within two years, namely Belgium and the Czech Republic. These experiences show that ASF can be overcome by acting quickly and according to a protocol very precise which provides for: strict limitations of the infected areas and buffer zones, within which no human activity must be practiced anymore, as the wheels of cars and the shoes of humans can spread the virus outside the infected areas. Within these areas, which must absolutely be fenced off, Belgium has financed 300 km of fences in collaboration with France and Luxembourg, closed corridors must be set up which make it possible to kill all the wild boars present in the infected area, preventing them from escaping outside outside the delimited area and therefore infect other areas (a drastic but necessary measure for the survival of the species itself).

Civil protection has been mobilized to eliminate all infected carcasses through strict biosecurity protocols. In Italy, a National Commissioner for ASF has been appointed but without a portfolio. It is not clear what his action is but it is clear that it is not working: within a year the area affected by the infection has more than doubled. According to the CIA, only 444 wild boars are killed in one year between the provinces of Alessandria, Savona and Genoa compared to 104,000 wild boars in Piedmont and between 35 and 56,000 in Liguria (underestimated numbers because precise censuses have not been made). The fences were not built in a timely manner. There have been no awareness campaigns for mayors and citizens, nor training on how to behave in the event of the discovery of a wild boar carcass.

In Piedmont, the Regional Council first established the restrictions for the infected areas but at the first complaint it voted for the exceptions to the restrictions it had set itself! Thus, green light to sport fishing competitions but with the obligation to park on the asphalt! Green light to trekking but only on the paths, asking citizens to change shoes and disinfect them, like bicycle wheels, approximate rules that would require the entire army to monitor compliance. The commissioner has not defined a protocol to block the infection in the province of Rome, where the situation can easily
get out of hand given the management of waste and the presence of wild boars in the city. In fact, the specimen found positive in Rome most likely became infected by eating infected waste and scraps of meat. With the lightness and incompetence of politics, the virus advances!

With this open letter, we ask the Government to stop the diversions, such as the alarm on cricket flour and get serious about eliminating African swine fever. The announced disaster is avoidable The protection of Made in Italy starts first of all from our home.

Signed by:
Caterina Avanza, Head of Action for European Agriculture
Annalisa Baroni, responsible for agri-food Action
Matteo Maino, coordinator of the Action agriculture expert group
Fausto Fogliati, responsible for Piedmont Agriculture Action
Luigi Dalleri, pig farmer and veterinarian
Pasquale Renato Romagno, zootechnician