Russia: ASF affected firm take on pig farm project

22-11-2012 | | |
Russia: ASF affected firm take on pig farm project
Russia: ASF affected firm take on pig farm project

Russian Agricultural Trust, one of the largest pork producers of the south of Russia announced the construction of four new pig farms in the Rostov region.


The company is considered to be one of the most affected by the virus African Swine Fever (ASF) among largest producers of pork in the country. Several outbreaks have occurred in the company’s farms in 2010 and forced it to cull a significant amount of pigs.


“Construction of the complex is planned in Kasharskom, Tselinskii and Egorlykskaya areas of Rostov region. The new projects will increase the number of pigs on the farms of the company from 220,000 to 750,000. In addition, we are going to build two feed plants with total production capacity of 160,000 tonnes per year and cost of 860 mln rubles (US$ 2.9 mln). The total investment in these projects should reach 13 bln rubles (US$420 mln), and its implementation is planned for 2014-2015,” said deputy general director, Andrei Krutko.


It is noted that the new facilities will be fully protected against ASF.


“We have completely revised the existing projects and decided to create a closed perimeter pig farms. No external transport could penetrate the farm, while the own transport of the farm can only move inside its territory. All vehicles in contact with the inside perimeter are disinfected. All imported materials and equipment are also treated with special decontamination material. In addition, we strictly divided “clean” and “non-clean” areas on the farm. To enter the “clean” area the workers and equipment should undergo additional disinfection procedures.”

Vorotnikov
Vladislav Vorotnikov Eastern Europe correspondent