Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on August 29 criticised the government for the way it is dealing with the farming crisis generated by the African swine fever outbreak, which “has pushed local producers to the edge of bankruptcy”.

Currently, there are nearly 800 outbreaks spreading over 10 of Romania’s counties. According to the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA), more than 120,000 animals have been slaughtered to stop the spread of the disease. 

There is no vaccine or cure for the virus, which causes a hemorrhagic fever with a mortality rate of up to 100%. The virus does not affect people, but people can easily spread it.

“The African swine fever is seriously affecting the swine breeders, and the big farms in the southeast are about to be virtually exterminated. There are already damages of tens of millions of euros, thousands of lost jobs and the loss of some important commercial opportunities for Romania,” the presidency said.

Iohannis warned that the deadly virus is putting at risk all breeding farms in Romania which produce roughly half of the meat needed for domestic consumption.

He slammed the government for not taking the necessary measures, despite being warned by the European Commission, to stop the expansion of the virus.

“The government must also explain the measure of eliminating the compulsory sanitary inspections in households this spring, considering it was fully aware of the African swine fever threat since the beginning of 2017,” Iohannis said.

The deadly virus was confirmed also at the biggest farm in Romania and the second largest in Europe, located in Braila county, where around 140,000 pigs are bred, according to Hotnews.ro. All the pigs will be slaughtered.

The head of the Romanian Pork Producers Association, Ioan Ladosi, told G4Media.ro on August 30 that it is estimated that 1,000 people were left without a job following the outbreak of the African swine fever epidemics.  At the same time, at least 8 farms have been closed so far. According to Ladosi, 76,927 pigs were slaughtered in farms and another 50,166 in people’s households.

Ladosi called the authorities’ reaction “extremely late and inefficient,” adding that the loss in the industry is hard to estimate at the moment.

However, while some see their businesses falling apart, other breeders seem to have acted right on time. An investigation by Libertatea.ro showed at the beginning of August that the farm run by the son of the leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, sold and processed most of its pigs before the virus spread.

Romania is the worst affected country in Eastern Europe at the moment, but African swine fever outbreaks have also been reported in Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. On the other side of Eurasia, Chinese officials are struggling to contain several outbreaks of the fever that have raised fears about the future of the world’s largest pig population.