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May 07, 2019

African Swine Fever Conference

by Chris Jackson, UK Tag

March this year saw me back in China following a very successful exhibition in Thailand, at VIV Asia 2019, a global meeting point for our industry.

The reason for the extended tour was to speak at a conference jointly sponsored and organised by Perendale Publishers who produce Milling and Grain magazine, as well as Famsun, probably China’s largest manufacturer of milling equipment. The conference was arranged to address the biggest problem that the Chinese pig industry has ever faced - African Swine Fever.
 


This initiative, undertaken by the two sponsors, was a very timely intervention to try and help large pig farmers both better understand the disease and to discuss methods that could be adopted to try and reduce the spread and protect their herds from this now almost global problem.

For me, a UK farmer, it was very heartening to see that the feed industry was taking the initiative to help Chinese farmers. This disease has far-reaching consequences affecting all sectors of our industry and the public at large who face a shortage of pig meat with consequential higher prices for the consumer. From a farmer’s perspective, we concentrate on the devastation that it causes us but often do not stop to consider the knock-on effect.

We heard, in the morning of the conference, from eminent Chinese experts talking about the disease and how it spreads, along with the Government’s plans to eradicate the disease, which they admit will be a long-term project. It took 30 years to clear the Iberian Peninsula of the disease, where pig density was a lot lower. Therefore, they understand well the probable time scale needed to bring this disease under control.

The government have put in place measures to encourage farmers to monitor their herds for signs of disease with a compulsory slaughter and compensation plan. In addition, it has also implemented a plan to have disease monitoring and testing at all abattoirs with severe penalties if they do not comply. This very positive step will benefit consumers as they will have more confidence in the safety of their meat.


Read more HERE.
 

The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.


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