African swine fever
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In Poland, pig farming has been abandoned in recent years, especially on very small farms.
POLAND, Warsaw. Since ASF became widespread in Poland, the number of pig farmers has almost halved. Nevertheless, the animal population shrank only slightly.
African swine fever and turbulent markets have apparently caused many Polish pig farmers to give up over the past seven years. According to Warsaw's agriculture ministry, in 2014 - when the highly contagious animal disease was first detected in Poland - there had still been 179,000 individual domestic pig herds nationwide, with a total of around 10.5 million animals, which meant an average of 59 pigs per herd. By 2019, the number of pig herds had fallen to 116,000. By mid-2021, officials counted about 92,000 farms with pigs, down nearly half from 2014.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Szymon Giżyński pointed out that the total number of pigs had nevertheless remained almost the same during that time. He attributed the exit of many farmers and the simultaneous growth in herd sizes in particular to the ASF. This has led to a significant increase in demand for biosecurity and disease prevention. The professionalisation required for this has led to increasing competitive pressure on larger farms. It is becoming increasingly difficult for smaller companies to meet the requirements in these areas, explained Giżyński.
Source: fleischwirtschaft.de; AgE
