Major Estonian pig farm to lay off a quarter of staff due to ASF outbreak
Maag Agro has begun collective layoffs of employees in connection with the closure of the Ekseko farm, which has been hit by African swine fever.
Forty-four people, or about a quarter of Maag Agro's pig-farming workforce, are set to receive redundancy notices. According to Priit Dreimann, a member of Maag Agro's management board, the future of pig farming remains uncertain.
"Right now it looks like around 44 employees or jobs will be cut, which is about 25 percent of our total pig-farming staff," Dreimann said.
He explained that efforts to eliminate the outbreak at the farm are still ongoing, but the process has dragged on because the state has not made any concrete decisions for a month. Clarity is expected by the end of the week.
"We don't yet know how to move forward, because the state has not made any decisions regarding support for pig farming. We're waiting to see what compensation for the eradication of the disease and other measures will look like. At the moment, everything is still up in the air," Dreimann said.
He did not rule out the possibility of further layoffs at the farm.
"We're taking it one day at a time. For now, I'll stick with that number (44 employees), but I can't rule anything out. At the moment we're moving forward with this plan," he said.
According to Dreimann, the pig-farming sector feels left at a loss, as there is little indication that the state is managing to contain the disease.
"Despite the fact that we've long been saying measures are needed to get things under control in the forest, we continue to see the disease moving northward. The latest case was near Jõgeva, which shows that the wave has reached roughly central Estonia, where much of the country's pig farming is located. I wouldn't place too much hope on the disease subsiding in the fall, because the wild boar population in the forest remains high," Dreimann said.
As a result of the swine fever outbreak at the Ekseko farm, approximately 27,000 pigs had to be culled.
As of September 18, ASF had hit 11 farms in Estonia in this year's outbreak, which began in June. Close to 56,000 domestic pigs have been declared infected with ASF so far, meaning these animals will or already have been slaughtered.
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Editor: Johanna Alvin, Marcus Turovski, Mart Linnart
