Cabinet presents action plan for African swine fever

African swine fever itself poses no risk to humans, but they can contribute to the spread of the virus. For example, by discarding contaminated pork products in nature. If wild boars eat these discarded pork products, they become infected and die. An outbreak of African swine fever then leads to drastic measures, such as fencing off and restricting access to nature reserves. When domestic pigs become infected, all pigs on the affected farm must be culled. Vaccination against African swine fever is not possible because there is no suitable and approved vaccine available.

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature (LVVN) Femke Wiersma is one of the signatories.

Wiersma: “We want to combat and prevent animal diseases. This is only possible if the government - national and provincial - works closely with nature organizations and businesses. With this plan, we take the necessary steps to prevent a possible outbreak among wild boars.”

The action plan focuses on prevention and preparation for controlling African swine fever in wild boars. Efforts are made to reduce the chance of virus transmission at locations where people may leave pork products in nature near wild boars. Additionally, work is done to strengthen hunters knowledge and evaluate whether improvements in management (monitoring, fencing, preventive culling) are needed. To be well prepared for control, maps are made to determine how infection zones can best be arranged if African swine fever is detected in wild boars, and preparations are made for placing fencing. Furthermore, collaboration with the relevant safety regions is explored in case of an outbreak. Pig farmers who want to take measures to prevent infection can visit the website of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority.

The implementation of the action plan is scheduled until 2028, unless an outbreak occurs earlier. In that case, the actions in the plan are accelerated. The Ministry of LVVN then takes the lead.

The Ministry of LVVN, the provinces of Limburg, North Brabant, Gelderland and Overijssel, Staatsbosbeheer, Natuurmonumenten and LandschappenNL, and the Producers Organization Pig Farming (POV) have signed the action plan for African swine fever.