Rinderpest

Amid an ongoing cattle plague with the number of farm units registering positive cases of rinderpest increasing by the day, Minister of Rural Development and Food Kostas Tsiaras is not ruling out the possibility of price hikes, especially regarding popular cheeses, such as feta and graviera. 

The detection of sheep and goat plague in Greece has highlighted the inadequacies and shortcomings in the system for monitoring live animal imports, as well as the mechanism of restrictions on sheep and goat farms.

The Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food has decided to extend the ban on the movement and slaughter of small ruminants throughout Greece in an attempt to control the spread of rinderpest - a contagious viral disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals.

In response to new cases of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) detected outside Thessaly in central Greece, authorities have imposed a nationwide ban on the movement of goats and sheep for breeding, fattening and slaughter.

Over the weekend, a fresh outbreak was confirmed at a livestock unit in Mesino, within the Corinthia regional unit.

A case of ovine rinderpest has been detected in a herd of goats and sheep in Kalabaka, in Thessaly, the Ministry of Rural Development and Food has announced.

National and local disease control officials have been sent to the farm to destroy and bury the contaminated animals, to set up a protection zone around the farm and to conduct epidemiological research.

The restrictions for farmers were partially lifted, the control measures will remain tightened, Bulgarian Food Safety Agency Director Damyan Iliev said during a press conference on the current epizootic situation in the country regarding ovine rinderpest and African swine fever, Focus News Agency reports.

Sofia. The fence at the border with Romania will be ready by the end of this month, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Rumen Porodzanov told bTV. The facility will cost BGN 1.1 million, more than initially planned in order to add stronger wire, he said. "Up to now, half of the fence has been installed.

Sofia. The mothers' protests and other social protests in recent weeks are clearly seen as an indicator of real problems, Bulgarian polling agency Gallup International, not related to Gallup Inc, said.

After Ovine rinderpest was discovered in Voden, the Bulgarian authorities had to work out how to kill thousands of animals in a matter of days.

Of course plans and precedents exist for such a programme but on a logistical and human level, there are many challenges to overcome.

BULGARIA - Clearing of land to enable the building of a fence at the Romanian border has begun, to prevent the movement of wild boar into Bulgaria as a measure against African swine fever