TIAONG, Quezon—The Department of Agriculture on Saturday concluded a series of consultations in Calabarzon to refine protocols that will govern the movement of healthy hogs amid a resurgence of the dreaded African Swine Fever (ASF), particularly in Batangas.
DA Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and Regulation Asis Perez, Undersecretary for Livestock Deogracias Victor Savellano and Assistant Secretary for Poultry and Swine Dante Palabrica met with local government officials, agriculturists from CALABARZON and industry groups to discuss ways to transport healthy pigs and slow down the spread of ASF in the region which has had devastating impact on swine production since 2019.
Usec. Perez said DA’s proposed guidelines would allow movement of healthy pigs even from Red Zones—or areas with active cases—to other zones to ensure that pork supply isn’t adversely affected and hog raisers could sustain their livelihood.
“The government will ease regulation but we have to make sure only live and healthy pigs are transported, not the infected ones, to avoid the spread of ASF. That’s why it’s important that we ensure infected animals stay in red zones” Perez said.
Usec. Savellano said Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. has approved a higher rate for indemnification for ASF-infected pigs that farmers will surrender to government for depopulation to stop the virus from spreading. He said the indemnification has been raised to P4,000 for piglets, P8,000 for medium-sized hogs, and P12,000 for sows and bigger hogs. Previously, the maximum indemnification is P5,000 per pig.
He said an initial amount of P50 million has been set aside as budget for indemnification.
The higher indemnification, Savellano said, is meant to encourage pig farmers to surrender their animals instead of selling them to unscrupulous traders who eventually transport the infected swine to other areas for slaughter.
When asked about the ASF vaccine, Assistant Secretary Palabrica said 10,000 doses arrived today Monday (are expected to arrive before the end-August for) emergency inoculation of healthy growers in Red Zones as response to the resurgence of the virus. He said the vaccination is part of a wider controlled testing of the ASF vaccine from Vietnam.
Palabrica said other vaccine manufacturers from the U.S., South Korea and Vietnam are also applying with the Food and Drug Administration to be part of the controlled testing to be conducted by the Bureau of Animal Industry. These applicants have vaccines that could be injected to breeders and growers, he said.
Palabrica said FDA has set strict requirements for the controlled testing to ensure vaccine efficiency, including genome sequencing of the virus to ensure that inoculation won’t result in mutation.
Meantime, the vaccines from Vietnam arrive on Monday and preparations for possible inoculation in Batangas this week are now underway. ###
