FAO and EBRD involved in containing ASF in Ukraine
Along with EBRD, UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation is making efforts to contain African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreaks in Ukraine. Since 2012, there have been 323 registered outbreaks of the disease in this country. Despite the fact that ASF is not transmissible to humans, the disease has put the Ukrainian pork sector at risk, and with it, the food security and livelihoods of many within the country mentioned FAO in a press release. experts forecast that the negative impact of its spread in Ukraine is likely to deepen if the disease is not properly and quickly controlled, which would further increase risks for pork farmers and processors.
At this point, Kyiv authorities are confronted with limited capacities to quickly identify and confirm the disease. A project launched in 2015 by EBRD and FAO is now in the second phase which consists in transferring state-of-the-art equipment to Ukrainian laboratories in order to enhance the capability of the Ukrainian veterinary service to conduct timely and accurate ASF testing.
Ukraine has 11 universities that train veterinary medicine doctors but is lacking the modern equipment and training to tackle the spread of ASF. "Fighting African swine fever starts with appropriate disease surveillance at the public level and investments in better biosecurity at the private company level. The joint FAO-EBRD project has taken practical steps to deliver state-of-the-art equipment and training to allow the Ukrainian government to enhance its ASF surveillance capacity. EBRD is ready to further support the pig-sector development and invest in companies with proper biosecurity and quality standards", declared Lesya Kuzmenko, Associate Director, Senior Banker at the EBRD.
The new equipment will be installed in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Sumy, and Mykolaiv labs.
At the beginning of 2018, the pig population in Ukraine was estimated at almost 6.1 million. A high proportion is held by households and smallholder farms, which are more likely to experience challenges in adopting high biosecurity measures. As such, the Ukrainian pork industry remains vulnerable to epizootic outbreaks.Ukrainians are heavily reliant on pork as a source of animal protein – it accounts for 36 percent of the meat consumed in Ukraine – and small-scale pork production provides important income for rural populations.
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