- GILBERT BAYORAN
Hog raisers in Negros Occidental, which remains free of the dreaded African swine fever (ASF) disease, are slowly finding markets in Luzon, with the ongoing one-month ban, or until April 5, on the entry of live pigs, boar semen, and pork-related products from the province to Cebu.
Provincial Administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, said March 23 that Negros Occidental is now a major supplier of hog products in the National Capital Region.
Diaz said that hog raisers are now happy that they have found a market in other areas of the country after the ban imposed by the Cebu provincial government. But he admitted that prices are a bit lower compared to that of Cebu and in Eastern Visayas.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson earlier requested Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia to allow the passage of hogs and pork products, from the province to Eastern Visayas.
But Garcia has yet to make a reply on the request.
Negros Occidental and Bacolod City also imposed a ban on the entry of all hogs and pork-related products from Cebu, including Bantayan and Camotes islands, after the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal Industry confirmed that ASF has been detected among pigs in Carcar City.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is also assisting the Provincial ASF Task Force in monitoring and blocking the entry of pork products from ASF-hit areas to Negros Occidental.
Commodore Joe Luviz Mercurio, PCG Northern Negros station chief, said that they have started training some of their dogs to specifically sniff out pork products to further bolster the province’s anti-ASF protocols./GB
