The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Sustainable Development of the Government of Extremadura, Mercedes Morán, defended the “agility” with which the Regional Executive acted in the face of the outbreaks of bluetongue detected in Extremadura.
Morán spoke this Thursday, October 10, in the plenary session of the Assembly of Extremadura, during his intervention during a questioning by the PSOE on the Council’s policy on prevention and control of animal diseases.
In her speech, the Minister of Agriculture stressed that this situation “must be taken very seriously”, which is why the Government of Extremadura is acting “with transparency, with agility and thinking at all times to do the best for our breeders.
In this sense, he clarified that on Monday 23, “the first outbreak” of bluetongue serotype 1 was officially known, which, as we recall, was declared by the Ministry of Agriculture, but as they had “suspicions” of the existence of this photo “before the 23rd, we worked all weekend to see the situation”, since that week, the Zafra Livestock Fair.
“Once the Ministry of Agriculture officially communicates this guidance, we will get to work to obtain the necessary vaccines”, on which “there are Stock shortages in laboratories“, so they are already booked.
Two days after declaring this concentration, since there was “a travel protocol for the benefit of animal handling and animal sales of our breeders”, while specifying that during the plenary session of September 26, when the PSOE asked questions on this subject, “there was no epidemic of serotype 3”.
It was on September 30 that the detection of serotype 3 in Extremadurain the Strip region with Portugal, reported the Minister of Agriculture, and the next day “they confirm the reserve of one and a half million serotype 3 vaccines”, she said.
As he explained, “the doses from the ministry, 175,000, arrived on the morning of October 3, and the same afternoon vaccination was underway”, while the next day, Friday 4, “the first 100 000 doses of this million have arrived.” half we bought from the Council and they also immediately started vaccinating with them.
This is why, he emphasized, “four days pass between the moment when the presence of serotype 3 is known in the region and the start of vaccination”, after which he highlighted “the agility ” with which he acted.
“In short, we are giving this bluetongue situation all the importance and attention it deserves, working with transparency, rigor and always being clear that the priority is to safeguard the livestock,” Mercedes reaffirmed. Moran.
In this sense, he regretted that the PSOE “can try to play with its politics as much as it wants, but the reality is that not even a month has passed since the declaration of the first epidemic and there is already agreements on travel, vaccinations and informing those interested in good time”, he asked the socialists. “If you do not wish to lend a hand in this situation, please withdraw and do not get in the way .”
For all this, Morán reaffirmed that the Ministry of Agriculture is “alongside” the breeders, “with measures and dialogues”, and that the Commission “will take care of their interests and their livestock”, a- he concluded.
PSOE urges Morán to “apologize” to breeders
In formulating his question, the socialist deputy Eduardo Béjar considered that animal health in Extremadura “is not going well”, which is why he urged the Minister of Agriculture to “apologize” to Extremadura breederssince during the plenary session of September 26 “he denied the existence of serotype 3 in this region”, because it “was already circulating in all farms in Portugal”.
Béjar regretted that “the reality is that there is an increasing spread of bluetongue and there are more outbreaks of serotype 3, and many farms still do not know the results of the serotype they have “, which is why he asked the advisor to “show a little empathy” towards the breeders “for what they are suffering”, he said.
“We sympathize with them, because they are going through difficult times”, underlined the socialist deputy, who deplored that “it seems that the government is minimizing the importance of what is happening”, and estimated that the head of the Agriculture “should take political responsibility for the mistake he made” in its September 26 response, and urged him to “be a little more humble.”
Béjar considered that “we could have started vaccinating earlier, taken measures earlier”after which he reaffirmed the importance of animal health, which “cannot be trivialized”, he stressed.
“Do you think things are going well? Do you think the breeders who are currently suffering from bluetongue in this region are being treated well?” asked Eduardo Béjar to the Minister of Agriculture. He also asked if he was himself. he plans “to establish some type of measures, to help the ranchers in the region for what they’re going through,” he said.
