ARMENPRESS
GOVERNMENT TO RELEASE 480 MILLION DRAMS TO COMPENSATE
ASF-CAUSED DAMAGES
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 7, ARMENPRESS: The government
said today it will release 480 million Drams in
assistance to farmers who had to destroy their pigs to
prevent the spread of a deadly disease, known as the
African Swine Fever (ASF) that killed thousands of
animals last year.
The distribution of the aid will be handled by the
agricultural ministry.
The deputy minister of agriculture, Samvel
Avetisian, told after a government session that owners
of pigs will receive 1005 drams (a little over $3) per
each kg of the destroyed meat.
He said the list of farmers whose pigs were
affected by the disease will have to be verified yet
by special task units that were set up to address the
problems on local level.
He said no farmer whose pigs were destroyed will be
omitted. Overall 18,800 pigs were registered to have
died or destroyed because of the disease.
The African Swine Fever (ASF) slipped into
Armenia’s northerner regions from Georgia last summer
and then spread to other areas of the country and then
slipped into Nagorno-Karabakh killing thousands of
animals there as well.
Experts say the African Swine Fever is a viral
transboundary animal disease that can neither be
prevented medically nor can it be treated. There is no
vaccine against the disease which causes high
mortality ranging from 80 to 100 percent.