DAVAO CITY – The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Agrarian Reform in Datu Odin Sinsuat town, Maguindanao del Norte province is racing against time to locate the flock grazing ducks that tested for avian influenza or bird flu and brought to the municipality last month.

The flock grazing ducks tested positive for the highly contagious disease while they were was still in the hands of a farmer grazing the flock in M’lang, Cotabato province.

Local government veterinarian Charles Boliver said that they tested positive for bird flu.

However, they were taken by their owner back to their place of origin in President Roxas town, Cotabato province, when the results came out.

Engr. Fahmi Acub, MAFAR Datu Odin Sinsuat head, said that they are locating the farmer who bought them from President Roxas.

Acub added that they have coordinated with local government agencies and chairpersons of barangays where most farmers are taking their grazing ducks.

“We are still locating the farmer who brought the grazing ducks here. We are doubling our efforts to prevent the spread of the disease,” Acub said on Friday, Nov. 14.

Acub said they received the directive from the MAFAR regional office to locate the farmer around the first week of November.

As a measure to monitor bird flu cases, Acub said they have collected blood samples from the flock of grazing ducks in

Barangays Bongued, Dados, and Dalican Poblacion.

Initial results showed that some of them tested positive for bird flu, Acub said.

More tests will be conducted as there are almost 5,000 grazing ducks in the three barangays, he said.

As preventive measure, Acub said, the local government has quarantined the grazing ducks while awaiting confirmatory results.

He said that some of the grazing ducks were from the neighboring province of Sultan Kudarat.

If confirmatory results show that they are positive for bird flu, they will be immediately depopulated, Acub said.

“We have no choice but to depopulate the positive flock. Otherwise, it would spread to other poultry animals. Kawawa naman mga farmers natin (Our farmers will suffer),” Acub said.

Acub said he has discussed the situation and the necessary steps to assist affected farmers with local government officials.

Duck grazing is a common practice in rice-growing areas as the rice-duck farming system that combines rice cultivation with duck farming is considered as an innovative agricultural practice

The practice helps enhance productivity and sustainability in rice farming as a natural pest control and weed control method during land preparation stages.

Office of the Provincial Veterinarian officer-in-charge Dr. Rosemarie Guzman said that the owner of the grazing ducks in President Roxas sold the flock to a farmer in Datu Odin Sinsuat.

Guzman said that OPVet immediately coordinated with their counterpart in MAFAR in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to locate the buyer.

During verification, she said that the farmer in President Roxas claimed that he was not able to get the name and contact information of the buyer.

The OPVet has strengthened their testing and surveillance against the spread of bird flu.

Initial results of blood samples taken from live poultry in M'lang, Matalam, President Roxas, and Tulunan yielded negative results, said Guzman. They are still awaiting results from Pigcawayan, Pikit, and Midsayap.

Several towns in Cotabato have boosted measures against bird flu such as temporary ban on the movement of live poultry animals, wild birds, and eggs.

The resurgence of bird flu in Cotabato and South Cotabato has prompted neighboring provinces, including the Philippine Eagle Center here, to step up their measures. The PEC has tightened biosecurity measures to protect the critically-endangered Philippine Eagle.