The Department of Agriculture's (DA) Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) is set to establish six mobile laboratory units in a bid to bolster the government's efforts to control and contain the African Swine Fever (ASF) in the country.
This, after Agriculture Secretary William Dar gave the green light to the BAI to put up the mobile laboratories worth P100 million which will be deployed to ASF-affected regions on or before March 31.
Dar said each mobile labs can provide services to local government units (LGUs) where there are ASF incidence and other animal diseases, as well as a mobile veterinary school to train personnel in disease detection, prevention, and monitoring.
"The mobile labs form part of the Duterte government’s leveled-up measures to revive the country’s hog industry and maintain a healthy animal sector,” Dar noted.
Aside from the laboratory units, the BAI also partnered with DA Regional Field Offices that manage the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory that is capable of testing and determining animal diseases through RT-PCR.
"These laboratories just need to optimize processes to further strengthen the country’s animal diagnostic infrastructure. Under the DA's Quick Response Fund (QRF), we have procured and distributed P100 million worth of RT-PCR test kits to LGUs nationwide," BAI Director Reildrin Morales said.
More programs vs animal diseases
In line with the ongoing efforts versus ASF and other transboundary animal diseases, the DA has also forged alliances with private groups, including a group of veterinarians and scientists, who form the BioAssets Diagnostic Clinic in Batangas.
Dar and other top DA officials met with experts from BioAssets last Jan. 28 to discuss approaches aimed at eradicating animal diseases that have affected the country's livestock and poultry industry.
During the meeting, BioAssets presented the "Brisk Response through In-location Diagnostics and Genome Sequencing" (BRIDGES) project—a three-part comprehensive unified approach that can isolate and characterize the ASF virus at a molecular level.
The P39.2-M project is jointly funded by BioAssets and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) under the Science for Change Program which may fast track the experts' vaccine research development.
The DA-BAI and BioAssets likewise agreed to organize a unified approach to jointly manage, control, and contain ASF and other transboundary animal diseases in partnership with LGUs, hog farmers' groups, and other industry stakeholders.
They will also collaborate to enhance ASF biosecurity measures, provision of onsite detection tools, preventive diagnostics, establish required facilities, and capacitate personnel, among others.