• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Fourteen towns and cities in Negros Oriental remain affected by the deadly African swine fever (ASF), as per latest status released by the DA-Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).
These include the capital Dumaguete City, as well as Amlan, Bacong, Basay, Bayawan, Bindoy, Dauin, Manjuyod, Pamplona, Siaton, Sibulan, Tanjay, Valencia, and Zamboanguita, that are all under the infected, or red zone category, the BAI said March 7.
The towns of Jimalalud and La Libertad are in the surveillance, or yellow zone, while the rest of the areas in the province are tagged as buffer, or pink zone.
The BAI had explained that those categorized in the yellow zone are areas where the dreaded hog disease had not been detected but are adjacent to the pink zone, while green is ASF-free.
In the Negros Island Region, only Siquijor is free of the ASF as all of its towns, including Enrique Villanueva, Larena, Lazi, Maria, San Juan, and Siquijor, are categorized as dark green.
The highly-urbanized Bacolod, and the City of Escalante in Negros Occidental are also ASF-affected.
Early this month, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the DA-BAI to ramp up livestock consolidation and intensify biosecurity measures, in addition to the ongoing vaccination against ASF to fight the virus.
Marcos stressed the importance of biosecurity, adding that even if the hogs are vaccinated, succeeding stocks will be exposed to the disease if the piggeries are not well-managed.
Agriculture undersecretary-designate for Livestock Constante Palabrica, in a Presidential Communications Office report, said that the ASF situation is under control, adding that 80 percent of the pigs are well-protected once vaccinated. | CGC
