As the number of African swine fever (ASF) cases in the country begins to decline, the Department of Agriculture (DA) announced that it would start its swine repopulation program in strategic areas to fast-track the livestock industry’s recovery. The DA said it allocated P600 million for the program, P400 million of which would be used to distribute “sentinel” piglets to beneficiaries and would include the provision of feeds, veterinary drugs and antiviral agents to assist raisers during the six-month fattening period. The remaining P200 million would be used to ensure that there would be a continuous source of piglets for the subsequent expansion of the repopulation program.
The DA said the repopulation would be guided by the agency’s swine fever zoning map wherein areas have been categorized by the degree of ASF incidents.
Areas that may be included in the program are the so-called pink, yellow, light green and dark green zones.
The pink zones are areas where ASF is not present but is adjacent to an infected zone. It may also be an area previously infected but the virus has not been detected for at least 90 days and thus has recovered from infected status. Meanwhile, yellow zones are areas that are ASF-free but may be adjacent to an area that has been infected.
The light green is an area without ASF but may be contiguous to yellow zones while dark green zones are those that are ASF-free and are geographically away from zones that may be infected. Initially, swine breeder multiplier farms are set to be established in the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Mindoro, Sorsogon, Southern Leyte, Bohol and Bukidnon. It is expected to benefit 8,000 backyard raisers who will be grouped into 500 clusters.
“We need the strong and sustained support of backyard and commercial raisers, local government units and the private sector to revive the industry,” Agriculture Secretary William Dar said. “First, by effectively controlling the ASF and preventing its spread via strict biosecurity measures and, secondly, by embarking on a massive swine repopulation program.” INQ