The Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development opens from next Monday the deadline for applying for aid to compensate for the extraordinary costs incurred by livestock farmers affected by the measures to control the outbreaks of sheep and goat pox (VOC) recorded in the Granada regions of Baza (Southern Altiplanicie) and Huéscar (Northern Altiplanicie) and in the Almeria areas of Alto Almanzora and Hoya-Altiplanicie. The financial endowment of this line of subsidies amounts to 1.3 million euros financed from the budget of the Junta de Andalucía.
As published today in the Official Gazette of the Junta de Andalucía (BOJA), farmers who, by order of the Official Veterinary Services of the Andalusian Government, have had to confine their animals to avoid the possible spread of the disease to farms in neighbouring counties and provinces, will be able to receive this aid. Those who have been forced to destroy manure and stored feed as part of the cleaning and disinfection measures ordered by these same professionals of the Junta will also be able to apply. The subsidies are calculated, on the one hand, on the basis of the number of heads and days of immobilisation (0.60 euros per animal per day); and on the other hand, according to the volume of manure (10 euros per cubic metre) or feed (0.43 euros per kilo) that has been destroyed.
The general director of Agricultural and Livestock Production, Manuel Gómez, and the delegate of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development of Granada, Celia Santiago, met today in the Regional Agricultural Office (OCA) of Baza with representatives of the entities authorized to process these grants in order to present the Order that contains the details of the subsidies.
Manuel Gómez explained that «around 200 sheep and goat farmers in Andalusia will be able to benefit from this aid, which is intended to compensate them for the effort they have made to keep their animals immobilised and to eliminate manure and feed from their farms, as indicated by the Official Veterinary Services of the Junta de Andalucía». «For weeks, these farmers have not been able to go out to pasture and have had to feed their sheep and goats with fodder, thus facing expenses that they had not foreseen and that, in some cases, have complicated the profitability of the farms», he commented.
The Director General took advantage of the meeting to «thank the farmers, the veterinarians of the Agrupaciones de Defensa Sanitaria Ganadera (ADSG), the technicians of the Regional Ministry and the delegations of Granada and Almeria and the staff of the Regional Agricultural Offices of Baza, Huéscar and Alto Almanzora for the great effort they have made to control a serious disease such as sheep and goat pox, disappeared in Spain since 1968 but now, unfortunately, has returned to register in this territory».
With regard to the work carried out by the Regional Ministry, Manuel Gómez highlighted «the significant administrative simplification that has been implemented in the processing of this aid in order to speed up the process as much as possible». By way of example, the Director General explained that livestock farmers can carry out the procedure directly or through the authorised bodies and that, by using the digital certificate or by registering their CIF, «the form is automatically filled in with the livestock farmer’s details and the amount that each applicant is entitled to receive is calculated automatically».
Measures to control SVC
Since the detection of the first outbreak of sheep pox in Andalusia, the Regional Ministry of Agriculture implemented the necessary measures to control and eradicate the disease in the shortest possible time. In addition to the measures relating to the slaughter of animals, the elimination of carcasses and the cleaning and disinfection of farms, protection zones (three kilometres) and surveillance zones (ten kilometres) were also established around the farms affected by the disease.
In these areas, biosecurity measures were reinforced and, among other restrictions, restrictions on the movement of livestock were put in place to prevent the use of pastures. As a result, farmers have been forced to purchase supplementary feed which, together with other effects of the immobilisation of livestock, has led to extra costs for which they were not prepared.
The VOC is an infectious viral disease which, as well as having serious repercussions on the animals, can also have a considerable impact on the profitability of livestock farms by disrupting the movement of livestock and livestock products within and outside the European Union.
For this reason, the Regional Ministry has sent a message of caution to livestock farmers in the areas where outbreaks have occurred and has asked them to follow the recommendations of the Official Veterinary Services of the Regional Government aimed at preventing any resurgence.