The Agriculture Councilor of the Campania Region, Nicola Caputo on the African swine fever announced: “There red zone established last May in the province of Salerno to deal with Psa infection was reduced from 17 to 8 municipalities: Sassano, Casaletto Spartano, Montesano sulla Marcellana, Casalbuono, Buonabitacolo, Sanza, Padula and Caselle in Pittari”.
“At the same time – he added – they leave refreshments for the breeders. We are rigorously implementing all the necessary measures and we are close to the farmers and the territories, ensuring certainty and speed of compensation, not only for the commercial pig farmsbut also for those ad family use“. Finally, according to the councilor “The Extraordinary plan for the PSA and for the depopulation of wild boar developed by the extraordinary commissioner for the PSA, Vincenzo Caputo”.
“We managed to get the reduction of the infected areawas not obvious, since in other regions the definition of the infected area was the subject of long months of observation” underlines councilor Caputo.
“Campania has demonstrated its ability to deal with the emergency: through the creation of a dense network of detectorsthe hunters first and foremost, and by an intense network of monitoring of carcasses, thus it was possible to substantially reduce the number of municipalities in zone II, the red zone”.
“This essentially allows you to have most of the limitations in a few municipalities, while in the range of 36 municipalities around the red zonedefined zone Iwill be identified special protection and biosafety proceduresbut basically there will not be a complete inhibition of agro-forestry activities. As regards the hunting sector in zone II (red zone), the ban on hunting remains in place, with the possibility of intervention to carry out the wild boar depopulation activity only through selective control”.
“In zone I, however, hunting activity is possible, and in these hours we are discussing with the Salerno office to organize the collection of wild boar in the Salerno II ATC, with the sole aim of standardizing – concludes the regional councilor Nicola Caputo – the local hunting experiences in accordance with the current health regulations to combat ASF, in order to have, in these areas, a better and greater hunting harvest of the boar“.
It was also public notice approved for access to extraordinary aid to support commercial and family pig farmers for self-consumptionoperating in the municipalities included in the area infected by Psa, established by order of the president of the Campania Region, whose contents were the result of intense and fruitful work carried out by the offices of the Agriculture Directorate in concert with those of Veterinary Health.
“The indications of President De Luca and the provisions of the Council resolution have thus been fully implemented – explains the regional councilor Nicola Caputo -, with which we planned the amount of well 2.9 million euros for the financial year 2023, in order to recognize full compensation for the damages suffered by pig farms in Campania and by families who regularly raised up to four family pigs, subjected to the obligation of rapid slaughter, as they operated in the so-called red zone”.
The times of delivery of the compensation will be very limited and the requests support in a significantly simplified form.
“The lines and strategies for the fight against African swine fever are also taking shape, with the launch of the Extraordinary Plan for ASF. The regions, and therefore Campania among the first, will have to specialize and adopt the Plan according to the needs local and territorial” underlined councilor Caputo.
“We are already at work together with the regional veterinary health, the Zooprophylactic Institute and the Criuv, to define as quickly and incisively as possible all the interventions aimed at depopulation of wild boar in the areathe procedure for establishing the organizational chart of the Territorial Operational Groups (GOT) has already been started, this to safeguard the Campania pig sector, which is of significant importance in the Italian panorama” said the Campania councilor again, who in recalling the excellence of the Nero Casertano pig announced: “We have approved and financed a project presented by the Veterinary Department of the University of Naples aimed at creating a biobank intended for conservation of genetic material of the native breed bell of the Black Pig of Caserta”.
