BLUETONGUE — FARMERS SHOULD NOT EXPECT GOVERNMENT TO "PICK UP THE BILL"

This is the view of Labour’s Rural Affairs Assembly spokesperson, Joyce Watson AM.

The Mid and West Wales AM made the comments in the National Assembly for Wales following the launch of the Assembly Government’s latest strategy Farming, Food & Countryside — Building a Secure Future (18 May).

Speaking after the Rural Affairs Minister’s statement, Joyce Watson asked what lessons the Government had learned from the low uptake of Bluetongue vaccine in Wales.

The Welsh Assembly Government has announced (7 May) that Bluetongue vaccine stocks will be discounted by 50% (from 66-79p per ml plus vat to 33-39p per ml plus vat) to encourage greater uptake. Before the price cut only two million doses had been used of the 7.5 million secured by the Welsh Assembly Government last year.

The Government has underwritten the cost of expired vaccine held by the manufacturers. The total underwritten cost of 7.5 million doses was around £ 3 million and the underwritten cost of the remaining 4.3 million doses of vaccine is some £1.9 million.

Efforts to extend the shelf-life of the vaccine have proved fruitless. The remaining stock will expire between the middle of June and the end of August. If Welsh farmers do not use the remaining stock the Assembly Government could sell it to other Member States, reduce the price further or do nothing and accept the loss.

Joyce Watson said: “I understand why the decision was taken to cut the cost of the vaccine, but, in future, the industry cannot automatically expect the Government to pick up the bill for biosecurity measures.”

In response the Minister reminded farmers in Wales that there was no Government compensation for the compulsory removal of animals infected with Bluetongue, adding:

“I am disappointed that so few farmers in Wales have seen the urgency of the need to protect their livestock and businesses from a disease as virulent as bluetongue.

“The lesson that I have learned from deciding to bulk-order vaccine on behalf of the industry, as a representative of the Government in Wales, is to think twice before doing so again, if faced with a similar situation.

“Representations were made to me that Government needed to intervene to ensure that vaccine was made available to farmers…However, the farmers in Wales have taken a different view.

“I will think twice in the future about risking some of the Welsh budget for that purpose.

Bluetongue first appeared in the UK in September 2007 in cattle on a Suffolk farm. In December 2007 the Welsh Assembly Government ordered 2.5 million doses of the vaccine and, in response to industry representations and anticipated demand, a further 5 million doses were secured in May 2008. All Welsh farmers have been able to vaccinate against the BTV-8 strain of the disease since the whole of Wales was designated a Bluetongue Protection Zone on 1 September 2008. The first case of the disease in Wales was detected on a farm in Ruthin, Denbighshire in September 2008.
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