Over the past 7 years, ASF has caused damage to Ukrainian farmers in the amount of UAH 150 million, says Nikolai Babenko, Director General of the Center for Increasing Efficiency in Livestock Production.

For seven years now, the state has not found budgetary funds to support pig production - neither to compensate for losses in the event of ASF, nor to properly prevent the spread of the virus. During this time, only registered losses of pig farms amount to more than 150 million UAH. Fear of bankruptcy is even more damaging if the state fails to pay compensation for destroyed animals upon detection of ASF. This forces some farmers to knowingly hide ASF cases, which leads to a whole virus-infected pork market.

According to Nikolai Babenko, such events are very reminiscent of the African scenario, when farmers sell sick and dying animals and their carcasses, so as not to be completely without profit. In particular, this situation can be observed in Uganda, where there is no state compensation for the disposal of pigs with ASF.

But in the EU countries a completely different attitude to local pig farmers. In Ukraine, pig breeding does not receive proper state support, although it is fully owned by another industry - poultry farming, says Mykola Babenko.