«Brucellosis, reconnaissance and table with breeders»

«It is an important act, for which we have been fighting for a long time». Thus Gianni Fabbris on behalf of the Coordination in defense of the buffalo heritage and the Interregional Network Let’s save local breeding on the announcement of the appointment of the national extraordinary commissioner to combat bovine, buffalo, sheep and goat brucellosis, and bovine and buffalo tuberculosis, arrived during the session of the Council of Ministers on Monday. And the name that continues to circulate for this position still seems to be that of Nicola D’Alterio, president of the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Abruzzo and Molise.

«We are ready to give our maximum contribution and support the effort to end this nightmare as quickly as possible. The commissioner will have an initial mandate of two years, renewable for another two years. Four years is a reasonable amount of time to address and resolve these problems. And, as we have always said, farmers are the first guarantors because there is no resolution that can ignore them.” According to Fabbris, who interrupted the hunger strike which had reached its twentieth day just after the session of the Council of Ministers, this appointment «will not represent a point of arrival but of departure. We need a professional, technical, high-profile figure who can responsibly get into the merits of the issues right away. He will have to carry out a survey of the state of the art and the real needs, and we believe that three months is sufficient time to advance political and government proposals to put in place adequate resources and tools. Furthermore, he will have to guarantee the transparency of the data and establish a permanent table with the social partners because the farmers are next to the animals every day and are essential for understanding what happens in a stable. But we believe it is right that both the Minister of Health and the Minister of Agriculture are present at the permanent table, the latter also so that the ministry takes on the burden of providing answers to the farmers and communities affected economically.” Adriano Noviello, farmer from Caserta and president of the Association for the Protection of Mediterranean Buffalo Breeding, was also satisfied. «It is a great achievement and a historic responsibility for a government that has understood how livestock farming has changed its way of existing for more than 20 years». And he added that «we will implement our requests. Anyone who thinks they are dealing with uneducated breeders has miscalculated.”

Gianpiero Zinzi said he was “proud that our battle alongside the breeders and the entire buffalo sector has finally led to the only possible solution: a law that establishes an extraordinary national commissioner to face and overcome the brucellosis emergency”. The Campania member of the League declared that «the green light from the CDM (Council of Ministers, ed.) represents a victory for thousands of companies, for an entire heritage and for the whole of Southern Italy which, with this important political decision, have a opportunity for redemption after the unsuccessful eradication plans envisaged by the Campania Region and De Luca. A common sense choice that marks a new path where scientific data is accompanied by dialogue.” Dem senator Susanna Camusso instead declared that «the farmers’ struggle pays off», underlining that «more than a year has passed since the government engaged with the farmers’ associations, prompted by a parliamentary motion. A wait still marked by the crisis and its worsening: demolitions, companies in crisis, declining production, lost jobs. They say it’s never too late, but we would like to underline that it took the hunger strike, the demonstrations in Rome and Caserta for the government to decide.”

Among the comments also that of the independent regional councilor Maria Muscarà: she hopes that the appointment of the commissioner can be “the beginning of a radical change in the management of brucellosis” and that “this new commissioner can move in favor of Caserta and Campania, and that can save the buffalo sector: many farmers’ hunger strikes have been needed” “It is essential to solve the problems”, added Pier Maria Saccani, director of the Consortium for the Protection of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP. «Any action taken to give clarity and transparency to the sector is something positive for us. We have always been and continue to be available to the supply chain because without great milk and without a great livestock sector we won’t go anywhere.”

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