Italy will ask the European Commission to greenlight state aid for chicken farmers hit by plummeting sales in the wake of consumer panic over bird flu virus, Agriculture Minister Giovanni Alemanno said on Thursday.
He and Health Minister Francesco Storace will plead their case at an Agricultural Council meeting of EU ministers on Monday.
Italy has seen a 70% plunge in poultry sales since the announcement last Saturday that the virus had been found in wild swans in three southern Italian regions. "In my view, this is an exceptional situation which justifies the emergency measures requested by Italy, making them compatible with community laws," said the minister.
The Italian farmers' confederation CIA warned that the crisis in sales threatens to wipe out the country's
free-range chicken farmers. "The situation for organic farmers is tragic at the moment," said CIA, stressing that even government plans to come to the rescue of the poultry sector would probably be of little benefit to small rural producers.
But in Brussels, agriculture commission spokesman Michael Mann made it clear that the EC could not take action in such cases.
"If prices in the poultry meat sector collapse because consumers are afraid of buying chicken, there's nothing the EC can do help keep prices up. We can support exports but right now there's no intention of doing more."
The Fedagri association, to which 90% of Italian poultry producers belong, said on Wednesday that the sector was close to collapse. "The sector cannot make it through another two weeks in these conditions," said Fedagri Chairman Paolo Bruni, referring to an "unjustified collective panic" across the nation.
So far tests have shown that eight wild swans found dead recently in southern Italy died of the H5N1 virus, the most virulent strain of bird flu.
Italian Farmers Confederation (CIA) said results of an instant poll carried out across the country showed that eight out of ten consumers admitted they would not buy poultry.
CIA said that the poultry sector has already lost some 550 million euros since October. It urged the government to launch an advertising campaign providing consumers with facts and to dispel hearsay about bird flu.
