African swine fever spreading quickly
Published Sep 30, 2019 03:33 pm
By Madelaine Miraflor, Joseph Pedrajas, and Argyll Geducos
The deadly African swine fever (ASF) is spreading fast within the Philippines’ top hog producing regions, and the government has claimed that the virus had only resulted in the death and culling of at least 20,000 pigs so far.
(Photo by INA FASSBENDER / AFP / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Agriculture Secretary William Dar confirmed on Monday that a thousand pigs recently died in Pangasinan, the newest area in the country to be hit by ASF – a fatal animal disease among pigs and wild boars with up to 100 percent mortality rate.
Pangasinan is the 13th area with confirmed case of ASF, but an industry source said there are actually 16 areas now in the country that have contracted the virus.
To prevent the spread of the disease, the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) is now implementing the 1-7-10 protocol in the area. This means that within one kilometer (km)-radius of infected farms, there would be quarantine checkpoints to prevent movement of all live pigs, pork, and pork-related products, and that all pigs within the area must be culled.
For swine farms within the 7-km radius, the government must conduct surveillance procedures, test animals to determine the extent of the infection, and limit animal movement, while in farms within10-km radius, mandatory disease reporting is required.
The agriculture secretary disclosed that one-third of the 20,000 culled hogs are those with ASF virus, while “two-third have not been affected by the ASF” but were culled just the same as part of the protocol.
“Our protocol is, all pigs within the one-kilometer radius of the affected areas culled,” Dar said.
Among the recently culled hogs were the 30 heads seized from a truck flagged down at a checkpoint in Pangasinan, Dar said in a media briefing at the Manila City Hall.
“It's good that the provincial government early on had put a checkpoint and when they were accosting the trader... he was not able to show any document, leading the government to put him on hold,” he added.
Dar said that 50 percent of those that were seized tested positive for ASF virus after the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) obtained their blood samples for examination.
In Quezon City, 357 pigs were culled on Monday after a hog raiser in Barangay Pasong Tamo observed that several of his hogs showed signs of sickness and uneasiness.
Even without verifying if the pigs had ASF, Pasong Tamo Barangay Chairman Banjo Pilar said the hog raiser decided to kill the pigs and have them buried.
Despite the pace by which ASF is spreading, Malacañang expressed confidence that the DA was still competent enough to address the presence of the hog disease.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo stated this after the Pangasinan provincial government said that 15 of the 30 blood samples from hogs in Barangay Baloling, Mapandan tested positive for ASF.
In his Monday press briefing, Panelo expressed certainty that Agriculture Secretary William Dar was on top of the situation.
“I'm sure the Secretary of Agriculture is competent enough to handle this situation. He has not said anything about not handling it. So I guess he's doing something about it,” he said.
According to the Palace official, Malacañang was being regularly updated by the DA about the situation.
DA spokesperson Noel Reyes stressed that the number of locally raised pigs that have so far died due to ASF and that were culled only amounts to 0.15 percent of the country’s total swine population, which stands at 12.8 million as of July.
“We are strongly implementing the 1-7-10 protocol in additional areas in Bulacan and Pampanga to manage, control, and contain ASF,” Reyes said.
The farms affected with ASF are all located in Central Luzon and Calabarzon, both major hog producing regions.
From January to July, Central Luzon recorded the highest swine inventory of 2.21 million heads. It was followed by Calabarzon and Western Visayas with stocks of 1.53 million heads and 1.23 million heads, respectively.
The combined stocks of these three regions accounted for 39.1 percent of the country’s total swine inventory.
As for hog production, Central Luzon is also the highest producer of hogs at 106 thousand metric tons (MT), liveweight. This is followed by Calabarzon and Western Visayas with production of 103.43 thousand MT and 48.82 thousand MT, liveweight, respectively. These three regions contribute 44.5 percent to the country’s total hog production.
Aside from Pangasinan, the other areas with ASF includes Barangay Cupang in Antipolo City; Barangays San Isidro, San Jose, Macabud, Geronimo, San Rafael, Mascap, San Mateo Slaughterhouse in Rodriguez, Rizal; Barangays Silangan and Payatas in Quezon City; and Guiguinto, Bulacan.
A lot are hoping that the DA would be more transparent in disclosing details on ASF. Since the alleged ASF cases were first reported in
August until now, Dar has only been giving limited information about the issue during interviews while his agency won’t regularly release updates.
In other countries hit by ASF, like South Korea and Vietnam, the governments would release almost every day updates on their respective ASF cases.
United States Grains Council (USGC) Senior Director of Global Programs Cary Sifferath had earlier said the Philippine government needs to be more transparent in handling the ASF outbreaks in the country.
Meat Importers and Traders Association (MITA) president Jess Cham thinks so, too. According to him, transparency from the government will help all food industries in terms of measuring demand and securing supply for all the commodities that will be affected by ASF, especially pork.
“We don’t know the actual situation because we don’t have the data. We are just speculating,” Cham said.
“The government may have its reason , but on our part, on the part of the other people, you work with what you have. Transparency costs consumers’ confidence,” he further said.
(Photo by INA FASSBENDER / AFP / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Agriculture Secretary William Dar confirmed on Monday that a thousand pigs recently died in Pangasinan, the newest area in the country to be hit by ASF – a fatal animal disease among pigs and wild boars with up to 100 percent mortality rate.
Pangasinan is the 13th area with confirmed case of ASF, but an industry source said there are actually 16 areas now in the country that have contracted the virus.
To prevent the spread of the disease, the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) is now implementing the 1-7-10 protocol in the area. This means that within one kilometer (km)-radius of infected farms, there would be quarantine checkpoints to prevent movement of all live pigs, pork, and pork-related products, and that all pigs within the area must be culled.
For swine farms within the 7-km radius, the government must conduct surveillance procedures, test animals to determine the extent of the infection, and limit animal movement, while in farms within10-km radius, mandatory disease reporting is required.
The agriculture secretary disclosed that one-third of the 20,000 culled hogs are those with ASF virus, while “two-third have not been affected by the ASF” but were culled just the same as part of the protocol.
“Our protocol is, all pigs within the one-kilometer radius of the affected areas culled,” Dar said.
Among the recently culled hogs were the 30 heads seized from a truck flagged down at a checkpoint in Pangasinan, Dar said in a media briefing at the Manila City Hall.
“It's good that the provincial government early on had put a checkpoint and when they were accosting the trader... he was not able to show any document, leading the government to put him on hold,” he added.
Dar said that 50 percent of those that were seized tested positive for ASF virus after the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) obtained their blood samples for examination.
In Quezon City, 357 pigs were culled on Monday after a hog raiser in Barangay Pasong Tamo observed that several of his hogs showed signs of sickness and uneasiness.
Even without verifying if the pigs had ASF, Pasong Tamo Barangay Chairman Banjo Pilar said the hog raiser decided to kill the pigs and have them buried.
Despite the pace by which ASF is spreading, Malacañang expressed confidence that the DA was still competent enough to address the presence of the hog disease.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo stated this after the Pangasinan provincial government said that 15 of the 30 blood samples from hogs in Barangay Baloling, Mapandan tested positive for ASF.
In his Monday press briefing, Panelo expressed certainty that Agriculture Secretary William Dar was on top of the situation.
“I'm sure the Secretary of Agriculture is competent enough to handle this situation. He has not said anything about not handling it. So I guess he's doing something about it,” he said.
According to the Palace official, Malacañang was being regularly updated by the DA about the situation.
DA spokesperson Noel Reyes stressed that the number of locally raised pigs that have so far died due to ASF and that were culled only amounts to 0.15 percent of the country’s total swine population, which stands at 12.8 million as of July.
“We are strongly implementing the 1-7-10 protocol in additional areas in Bulacan and Pampanga to manage, control, and contain ASF,” Reyes said.
The farms affected with ASF are all located in Central Luzon and Calabarzon, both major hog producing regions.
From January to July, Central Luzon recorded the highest swine inventory of 2.21 million heads. It was followed by Calabarzon and Western Visayas with stocks of 1.53 million heads and 1.23 million heads, respectively.
The combined stocks of these three regions accounted for 39.1 percent of the country’s total swine inventory.
As for hog production, Central Luzon is also the highest producer of hogs at 106 thousand metric tons (MT), liveweight. This is followed by Calabarzon and Western Visayas with production of 103.43 thousand MT and 48.82 thousand MT, liveweight, respectively. These three regions contribute 44.5 percent to the country’s total hog production.
Aside from Pangasinan, the other areas with ASF includes Barangay Cupang in Antipolo City; Barangays San Isidro, San Jose, Macabud, Geronimo, San Rafael, Mascap, San Mateo Slaughterhouse in Rodriguez, Rizal; Barangays Silangan and Payatas in Quezon City; and Guiguinto, Bulacan.
A lot are hoping that the DA would be more transparent in disclosing details on ASF. Since the alleged ASF cases were first reported in
August until now, Dar has only been giving limited information about the issue during interviews while his agency won’t regularly release updates.
In other countries hit by ASF, like South Korea and Vietnam, the governments would release almost every day updates on their respective ASF cases.
United States Grains Council (USGC) Senior Director of Global Programs Cary Sifferath had earlier said the Philippine government needs to be more transparent in handling the ASF outbreaks in the country.
Meat Importers and Traders Association (MITA) president Jess Cham thinks so, too. According to him, transparency from the government will help all food industries in terms of measuring demand and securing supply for all the commodities that will be affected by ASF, especially pork.
“We don’t know the actual situation because we don’t have the data. We are just speculating,” Cham said.
“The government may have its reason , but on our part, on the part of the other people, you work with what you have. Transparency costs consumers’ confidence,” he further said.