• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Negros Occidental will have to begin recovery efforts from the ground up following the resurgence of African swine fever (ASF) in several areas of the province, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Wednesday, July 1.
“We will have to start from scratch. We will have to disinfect our areas and go slow with the repopulation,” Lacson said, stressing the need to strictly follow biosecurity protocols to contain the disease.
Lacson recalled that the province had previously managed to recover from an earlier ASF outbreak, with the local hog industry nearly returning to its pre-outbreak production levels.
“As far as ASF is concerned, we got hit before. We overcame that. In fact, we were already producing the volume of hogs that had almost gotten back to its original status. But unfortunately, we have ASF again, so we have to go back to the same protocol,” he said.
The Provincial Veterinary Office reported that 1,902 pigs had died from various illnesses in 12 local government units, representing about 3.2 percent of the province’s total hog population as of June 25.
Provincial Veterinarian Placeda Lemana said they could not yet attribute all the deaths to ASF because many of the affected animals had not undergone laboratory testing.
Lemana, however, said the clinical signs and symptoms observed in the dead hogs were consistent with either hog cholera or ASF.
The confirmation of ASF cases in Negros Occidental has prompted several neighboring provinces in the Visayas to tighten border controls to protect their respective swine industries.
The provincial governments of Negros Oriental, Cebu, Capiz, and Guimaras have issued executive orders temporarily restricting the entry of live hogs, pork and pork by-products, frozen boar semen, and other related materials originating from ASF-affected areas.
Last week, Lacson confirmed the presence of ASF in several parts of Negros Occidental, prompting neighboring local government units to strengthen preventive measures against the spread of the highly contagious disease.
The outbreak has already caused significant losses to hog raisers, particularly in the town of San Enrique, where around 500 hogs have died, with estimated losses placed by Mayor Jilson Tubillara at P5 million. | GPB
