MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) – Russia is being pressured to take urgent measures to stop the spread of the deadly pig disease African swine fever (ASF) or face becoming dependent on imported pork.
“If urgent measures are not taken, then huge investments in the sector will be lost, Russia will become totally dependent on pork imports, and new investments will not be realistic,” said Sergei Yushin, head of the powerful lobby National Meat Association.
Russia was Canada’s third largest market for pork in 2008 on the basis of volume.
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Swine fever, which is not a threat to humans but is deadly to pigs, was discovered in northwestern Russia in October, close to the country’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg.
Since then, five new outbreaks have been registered in the southern region of Rostov, according to the Russian animal and plant health watchdog.
The U.S. Meat Export Federation said the spread of ASF in Russia could threaten the country’s attempts to become self-sufficient in pork production.
“In the last few months, local veterinaries in the south of Russia, where dozens of ASF outbreak pockets had been discovered, did not take any serious actions in order to stop its spreading,” Yushin said.
He said local authorities, on orders from the country’s top government officials, had started taking measures to stop the disease but these were not sufficient. Nearly half of Russia’s pig population is bred in backyard farms.
“Risks are minimal if all the measures are observed, but one must not forget about the traditional Russian disrespect of order,” Yushin said.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization warned that ASF could spread from Russia to the European Union and to China, which has the largest pig population in the world.
Russia regulates meat imports with tariff quotas. It aims to cut pork and poultry meat quotas for the coming years by the amount that domestic production is expected to gain.
