Nicosia, Cyprus. Up to 33,000 healthy piglets will be slaughtered under a government support scheme intended to prevent a collapse in Cyprus’ pig farming sector after an export ban created a surplus of animals.
The cabinet approved the compensation scheme on Wednesday after the European Commission extended foot-and-mouth disease restriction zones across Cyprus until August 1, prohibiting exports of fresh pork and non-heat-treated pork products.
Export restrictions and surplus
Cyprus Pig Farmers’ Association chairman Giorgos Andreou said the export ban had caused a serious imbalance in the domestic market.
“Production is highest during the winter months, which is when exports become crucial,” Andreou told the Cyprus Mail. “We normally export around 1,500 surplus pigs each week.”
The association proposed reducing animal numbers at the earliest possible stage to avoid a more serious crisis later in the year, he said.
Planned cull
Andreou said piglets would be slaughtered after weaning, about one month after birth, to prevent a surplus and avoid slaughtering breeding sows.
He said the animals would be euthanised at a slaughterhouse using carbon dioxide, then treated as animal by-products and sent for biogas production.
“From an animal welfare perspective, this is the approved method,” he said. “The only reason this is happening is because exports are prohibited and there is a surplus of pork. If exports were possible, there would be no need for this measure.”
Andreou said the measure was not intended to increase pork prices but to prevent a market surplus that could create bigger problems for producers.
Animal party response
The decision drew criticism from the Cyprus Animal Party, which described the planned slaughter as “a mass death sentence for innocent animals” and blamed what it called government failures in managing the crisis.