- GILBERT BAYORAN
The provincial government of Cebu has extended for 15 days the temporary ban on the entry of live hogs, piglets, boar semen and pork-related products from Negros Island.
Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia issued Executive Order No. 11, series of 2023, stating that there is still a need to confer with the stakeholders of the local hog industry, including the mayors of the local government units of Cebu, and the respective governors of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, to come up with a common protocol against the African swine fever, hog cholera, and other swine diseases.
The initial ban on the entry of live pigs and pork related products from Negros Island, expired April 6, based on EO 9 issued last month by Garcia.
Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental have maintained that they are ASF-free, contrary to the claims of Garcia.
The province of Negros Occidental and highly-urbanized Bacolod City also banned the entry of live pigs, boar semen, sows, piglets, and pork-related products from Cebu, due to the detection of ASF cases in the island province.
Negros Occidental’s hog industry is pegged at P6 billion.
With the ban on the entry of live pigs and pork products to Cebu from Negros Occidental, including the passage of shipments of hogs from Negros-Cebu-Samar and Leyte, hog raisers in the province are now shipping pigs to Manila and other parts of Luzon, although at lower prices compared to Eastern Visayas.
Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) records show that the number of hogs shipped from Negros Occidental nearly reached 9,200 in the first three months of this year.
Despite the looming shortage in pork production, Provincial Administrator, Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, said that production in Negros Occidental is strong, noting that backyard production remains good, same with the province’s commercial hog raisers.
Diaz added that the province is currently working on the approval of its level 2 accreditation for the PVO laboratory.
“Regardless of what happens outside, there is food security in our province. And if we are lucky to keep the ASF and AI (Avian influenza) free status in the next five to 10 years, we hope to feed Negros Occidental, Western Visayas, and other parts of the country,” he said./GB
