The Catalan government has culled 1,400 wild boars within a 20-kilometre radius of Barcelona’s Collserola park as part of an aggressive campaign to contain an outbreak of African swine fever, the region’s agriculture minister has confirmed. This figure contributes to a wider provincial effort that has eliminated 13,600 animals across Catalonia.

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Officials are racing to halt the spread of African swine fever (ASF), a highly contagious viral disease fatal to domestic pigs and wild boars, though it poses no risk to humans. Centred around the vast Serra de Collserola natural park, the outbreak has put Catalonia’s multi-billion euro pork industry on high alert. This follows earlier reports of the outbreak expanding in Catalonia, leading to new restrictions.

During a tense session in the Parliament of Catalonia on Wednesday, 25 February, Òscar Ordeig, the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food, detailed the operation’s scale. He revealed the government’s objective: to completely clear the cordoned-off area of its wild boar population. To achieve this, canine units and new trapping systems are being deployed, according to reports in La Vanguardia.

Political Clash Over Response

However, the government’s handling of the crisis has drawn sharp criticism from the opposition. Jeannine Abella, a member of the Junts party, accused the executive of negligence.

She attributed the discovery of three positive cases outside the initial perimeter to “the consequences of not carrying out an almost immediate sanitary clearing in the first six kilometres.” Abella questioned whether the minister would assume responsibility for a management approach that, she claimed, was closing export markets through negligence rather than reopening them.

Ordeig defended his department’s actions, insisting they had acted swiftly and with full transparency with all stakeholders, from scientific experts to international markets. “Explanations, information, transparency, and as we have said, acting quickly, acting in a coordinated way… This is what we have done and this is what we will continue to do,” he retorted.

Export Blunder Risks China Market

The political debate intensified over the significant economic fallout. Abella revealed that a new export zoning map, approved only a day earlier, had mistakenly included two ASF-free municipalities in the province of Tarragona within a surveillance zone.

This administrative error threatened an automatic ban on pork exports to China, one of the Catalan pork industry’s most vital markets, for the entire province.

Confronted with the blunder, Minister Ordeig acknowledged the mistake, describing it as a drafting error. He sought to reassure farmers, stating that the Catalan government had already secured a “commitment from the central government and the European Commission to rectify this error,” as reported by Metrópoli Abierta. He gave firm assurances that exports to the Asian giant would not be closed.

Amid Crisis, a Record Year for Exports

Despite the political storm surrounding the ASF outbreak and the culling operation, which follows earlier orders for a drastic reduction to stop swine fever, Ordeig also delivered a dose of positive economic news for Catalonia’s primary sector.

In response to a separate question, he announced that Catalan agro-food exports grew by 7% last year, reaching a record-breaking €16.9 billion. He highlighted that this performance generated a trade surplus of 104% and re-established Catalonia as the leading exporting region among Spain’s autonomous communities.

Ordeig also previewed that official figures on agricultural income, due to be published shortly, will confirm “a historic result, surely the best in history” for the region’s producers.