About 40 tractors were parked in the village of Potnjane on the Djakovo-Nasice state road on Monday morning by disgruntled pig farmers who started protesting last Tuesday against the government measures to curb the outbreak of African Swine Fever.

Last Thursday, some of the farmers first put up roadblocks on the road leading to the Zupanja-Orasje border crossing in Vukovar-Srijem County to express their protest.

Today, they blocked the Djakovo-Nasice state road in Osijek-Baranja County and said that they would stay at the roadblock until further notice, waiting for decisions to be made by an initiative called the team for the defence of Croatian farmers and by the recently established Slavonia and Baranja Union of Farm Workers who are leading the protest.

The protesting pig farmers demand a repeal of the Agriculture Ministry’s restrictions, an end to the euthanisation of pigs and abolition of the categorisation of facilities where they are kept, as well as lifting the ban on pig slaughter and enabling trade in uninfected pigs.

Some of the farmers said today that the tradition of pig slaughter at farms in autumn has gone on for centuries and that the latest developments would mean the cessation of the traditional practice of  preparing pork for winter.

The president of the Croatian Chamber of Agriculture (HPK), Mladen Jakopovic, said on Sunday evening that the African Swine Fever (ASF) epidemic was declining, but that caution was still needed, while the protesting farmers pressed on with their demands.

Jakopovic said that ASF had caused havoc to Croatian pig farmers for five months. “The situation is calming down, the figures (on incidence rates) show a decline. However, the situation still requires great caution, and one should not prejudge results. It is still necessary to be on the watch.”

“We cannot ignore the measures prescribed by the competent authorities,” he said.

The HPK leader announced that if the situation continues to abate, one can expect the suspension of two measures in mid-December, meaning that the ban on slaughter at piggeries and on trade in uninfected pigs could be lifted in a favourable scenario.