Poland: agricultural news week 25, 2021

African Swine Fever outbreaks in Lodz Province

The Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) informed about outbreaks numbers 3-5 of African swine fever (ASF) in Poland in 2021, found on June 19-21 this year. All outbreaks are in the Province of Lodz, in central Poland.

• Outbreak of ASF No. 3 in 2021 was recorded on a farm keeping 48 pigs. The farm is located in the Lututów commune, Wieruszów poviat, voivodeship Lodzkie.
• Outbreak of ASF No. 4 in 2021 was recorded on a farm keeping 149 pigs. The farm is located in the commune of Tuszyn, eastern Łódź poviat, voivodeship Lodzkie.
• Outbreak of ASF No. 5 in 2021 was identified on a farm keeping 23 pigs. The farm is located in the commune of Łubnice, Wieruszów poviat, province Lodzkie.

Outbreaks 4 and 5 are secondary to outbreaks no. 2021/3.

The holdings with the outbreaks are located outside the restricted areas listed in Annex I to CIP 2021/605 of 7 April 2021 laying down specific measures to combat African swine fever. The Veterinary Inspection has implemented all procedures related to the eradication of the disease in accordance with EU regulations and the Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of May 6, 2015 on the control of African swine fever. An infected and endangered area will be designated around the outbreaks within a radius of 10 km.

Earlier in the week, the Minister of Agriculture Grzegorz Puda and the Veterinary Service announced a new strategy to fight ASF, based on the speed at which new disease outbreaks are detected and controlled. The activities are focused on stopping the transmission of the disease and cut the epizootic chain of its further spread, in particular the transmission of the virus to the Piotrków Trybunalski poviat, with one of the highest pig population rates in the country.

Source: www.wetgiw.gov.pl and www.gov.pl

2nd outbreak COVID in mink

The Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) informed about the second outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in mink in Poland on June 21. The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak was found in 2 farms with a total of 8,000 females and 29,000 young mink, located at the same address in the Biała Podlaska poviat, Lubelskie Voivodeship (east of Poland).

Samples for testing in the above-mentioned farms were collected on June 16 this year in connection with the implementation of animal control tests carried out on the basis of the Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of March 26, 2021. In the farms, samples were taken from 20 mink (40 swabs in total) and 3 animals were positive. In the farm where the infection was found, all control procedures provided for in the event of SARS-CoV-2 in mink have been implemented, as specified in the Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of December 15, 2020 on the control of SARS-CoV-2 in mink (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 2302).

This also means that all mink on the farm will be culled. According to the current national regulations compensation for utilization of mink animals is not foreseen. Poland is one of the largest fur producers in the world. After the decision in Denmark to eliminate the mink farms due to Covid-19, Poland is the largest fur producer in the EU and the second in the world, after China. In September 2020, 810 fur farms were active in Poland with the total number of 6,76 million animals.

News about the first outbreak Covid-19 infection in minks in Poland | Nieuwsbericht | Agroberichten Buitenland

Source: www.wetgiw.gov.pl

Veterinarian market in Poland

Poland is the third largest country in the European Union in terms of the population of dogs (7.6 million) and the fifth in terms of cats (6.4 million). According to FEDIAF data, 88 million households (38% of all) in Europe have at least one pet. The most numerous group are dogs (over 110 million) and cats (89.8 million). Then there are birds (51.9 million), small mammals (29.8 million), fish (15.4 million) and reptiles (about 9 million). These numbers have increased in recent years.
Based on the records kept by the National Chamber of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, in Poland there are over 7.6 thousand. operating medical facilities as much as 72% is conducted in the form of veterinary offices, where care is provided by an average of 1.5 doctors in one facility. In Europe, this market has a different structure - according to the results of the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe survey, only 23% has a one-person veterinary practice, about 30% employs three, four or five employees, and the rest from a dozen to several dozen veterinarians. According to experts, the Polish market will follow this model.
The exact value of the Polish veterinary care market is unknown. However, industry representatives agree that spending on animal care is systematically growing and that the pandemic has not changed that.

Source: Rp.pl