Pigs infected with African swine fever are collected to be culled. (Photo: baochinhphu.vn) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development (MARD) has instructed localities hit by African swinefever (ASF) to detect whether there has been fraud designed to take advantageof the Government's financial support for farmers whose pigs wereinfected and to deter further violations.
In a document on the prevention and control of ASF sent tocities and provinces last week, the MARD said some households had deliberatelymade false or inflated claims about the number of dead pigs to cash in onsubsidies.
The fraudulent claims have made it more difficult to tacklethe spread of the disease.
The MARD asked the people’s committees of affectedlocalities to inspect all the subsidy claims. Farmers found to have madefraudulent claims will be strictly fined.
The move came after local press reported fraud in northernHai Duong province.
Many households in Tu Ky district’s Binh Lang commune werefound to have submitted claims for subsidies for dead pigs despite owning nopigs at all. Some even made multiple claims.
Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, told the Vietnam NewsAgency the ministry had asked the People’s Committee of Hai Duong province toquickly clarify the situation and deal with violations.
The results of the province's inspection must be reported tothe ministry by May 27.
The ministry also asked local authorities of 63 cities andprovinces to tighten supervision of the trade, slaughter andtransport of pigs to prevent the further spread of the disease.
Anybody found to have deliberately kept information aboutinfected pigs from the authorities would be fined, Tien said.
Tien said the spread of ASF has hit some areas in the south,where large-scale pig farms are located. Drastic measures should be taken toprevent more losses for the livestock industry.
Pork accounts for a large share of the nation's foodsupply. If the number of infected pigs continues to increase, therecould be a pork shortage in the near future.
Those who had pigs culled due to the disease will becompensated at a level of 38,000 VND (1.58 USD) per kilogramme.-VNS/VNA
VNA
