Swine fever: Poland wants to build fence on border with Belarus worth $ 36 million
Fencing is done to avoid the migration of wild boars spreading African swine fever.
Polish Minister of Agriculture Krszysztof Jurgiel commented on the construction. He noted that it would cost 130 million zlotys (more than $ 36 million). The Ministry of Finance has already allocated the funds.
The initiative of the Minister is the result of repeated requests from the Polish farmers, who had urged the government to conduct a more effective fight against African swine fever, which had once again attacked the eastern lands of Poland this year. Majority of the cases were detected during the summer months. In the autumn, the number of cases should go down, but the minister believes that the fence is still needed, “Polskie Radio” reports.
In total, since 2014, when the virus was reported for the first time, 92 cases of infection have been detected in private the Polish farms.
According to experts, the Polish pigs were infected by ASF boars, who had come from Belarus.
Polish officials believe that there are two effective means to stop the epidemic: shoot wild boars and build a fence on the eastern border, so they do not get into the country.
Reports on environmental and legal conditions of the construction of the fence will be prepared over the next two to three weeks.
The length of the fence will be 729 kilometers.
