Bid to find cause of piglets' strange death

The Agriculture Ministry is offering technical assistance to pig breeders whose piglets have been dying for an as yet unknown reason.

The Pig Breeders Cooperative and the government veterinary service are working to establish whether the cause of death at such a young age was due to disease or some defect in the way the animals were looked after.

Francis Agius, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Fisheries, said when he visited a pig farm in the limits of Qrendi yesterday that piglets just a few months old had been dying for the past 18 months or so. He said the problem existed elsewhere in Europe too, added that the situation should not give rise for alarm.

"We are leaving no stone unturned to offer the best technical service to breeders on this matter," Dr Agius said as he discussed the matter with breeder Raymond Mifsud at his farm.

Dr Agius also discussed problems that were being encountered by farmers in the area.

Karmnu Caruana complained that he had been striving to install electricity at his farm for some time without success. Assistance was promised to him by officials accompanying the parliamentary secretary.

Another full time farmer, Raymond Sacco, whose fields are just outside Qrendi, close to the Hagar Qim temples, also complained that he had no electricity and that he had to operate a generator to produce power for his pumps and other equipment, pushing up his production costs considerably.

Farmers also complained because they were being paid for their produce by the container and not by weight - meaning they were not entitled to the state subsidy. Dr Agius said this matter was being dealt with. "Together we have to make the best use of assistance offered by the EU," Dr Agius said.