• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The spread of African swine fever (ASF) is already subsiding, but the threat remains, an official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Tuesday. Undersecretary Zamzamin Ampatuan, who spoke at the opening of the 9th Regional Organic Agriculture Congress held at Negros Residences in Bacolod City, said it is challenge for the DA to remove the viral disease from swine since there is no vaccine yet developed in the country.
Except if we import vaccines against ASF, he added.
The DA official said at the moment, the best thing to do is to enhance the quarantine system to contain the spread of the virus.
Negros Occidental has not been spared by ASF, which also hit the provinces in Panay, Guimaras, Negros Oriental and Cebu in the Visayas region.
Dr. Placeda Lemana, provincial veterinarian of Negros Occidental, reported on Tuesday that there are still swine mortalities in La Castellana and Hinobaan towns, but the type of viral disease is still being determined.
Negros Occidental, which has a P6- billion swine industry, has recorded almost 18,000 hog mortalities in some of the 20 local government units, since April this year, with losses to hog diseases, including ASF, placed at almost P200 million.
Lemana said they have already started the pre-sentineling program, a science-based approach to detecting the presence of the ASF virus in a particular area, before proceeding to swine repopulation next year to revive the local hog industry.
Moreover, Ampatuan said that while the threat of ASF is subsiding, the industry “should not be complacent”.
He noted that to address the anticipated shortage of pork supply during the yuletide season, swine production in areas not affected by ASF needs to be enhanced.
“With some importation, we may have enough supply in December,” he added. | GB
