Up to 33,000 healthy piglets will be slaughtered under a government support scheme aimed at preventing the collapse of Cyprus’ pig farming sector after an export ban left producers facing a growing surplus of animals.
The cabinet on Wednesday approved a compensation scheme for pig farmers after the European Commission extended foot-and-mouth disease restriction zones across the whole of Cyprus until August 1. The restrictions prohibit exports of fresh pork and non-heat-treated pork products.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, Cyprus Pig Farmers’ Association chairman Giorgos Andreou said the export ban had created a serious imbalance in the domestic market.
“Production is highest during the winter months, which is when exports become crucial,” he said. “We normally export around 1,500 surplus pigs each week.”
To avoid a more serious crisis later in the year, the association proposed reducing animal numbers at the earliest possible stage.
“The piglets will be slaughtered after they are weaned, about one month after they are born,” Andreou said. “This way, not only do we avoid a surplus, but we also avoid having to slaughter the breeding sows.”
He said the piglets would be euthanised at a slaughterhouse using carbon dioxide before being 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 that “there may be concerns that this is being done to increase the price of pork, but that is not the purpose. The aim is to prevent a market surplus that would create even bigger problems for producers.”
The decision has prompted a strong reaction 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.
“It is not the piglets that are surplus. It is incompetence,” the party said in a statement.
It argued that the slaughter was the result of inadequate planning rather than an unavoidable consequence of the disease restrictions, questioning why contingency plans had not been in place before the export ban took effect.
“Instead of protecting production, the economy and animal welfare, the state is leading tens of thousands of living creatures to destruction and then asking taxpayers to pay millions of euros in compensation for a disaster that could have been avoided through proper planning,” the statement said.
The party called for the resignation of Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou, the head of the veterinary services and the commissioner for the environment and animal welfare, arguing they had failed to prevent the crisis or adequately protect animal welfare.
It also urged members of the public to adopt piglets where possible, saying pigs are intelligent, social animals that deserve “the right to live” rather than being born only to be slaughtered weeks later.
The export restrictions remain in force until at least August 1 under the European Commission’s implementing decision, with producers warning that further measures may be needed to stabilise the market unless exports resume.
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