MANILA -The country’s swine industry is poised to overcome the adverse impact of African swine fever (ASF) in one to two years’ time, an official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Wednesday.
Despite providing a rosy outlook for the sector, the same official admitted there were lapses in the measures and protocols being implemented which led to the spread of this animal disease.
Ruth Miclat-Sonaco, director of the DA’s National Livestock Program (NLP), said, “with all these positive developments that we have, we are looking at the recovery of the swine industry in the next one to two years.”
Sonaco said she was “overly optimistic” about the prospects of the sector’s recovery, citing the slow increase in swine production and inventory and the strides made by the DA and the private sector in the swine repopulation program.
It may be taking longer because “as of the moment, we are registering a growth of only 1 to 2 percent, maximum 3 to 4 percent,” she said at Cargill Philippines Media Roundtable for the Animal Nutrition Summit.
The DA unveiled the Integrated National Swine Production Initiatives for Recovery and Expansion program in February 2021 to accelerate calibrated repopulation and production expansion through farm clustering and consolidation.
Curbing ASF
“We failed in the two premises,” said Sonaco, attributing it to insufficient budget and policies in place to reduce the number of infected hogs.
The agriculture official said they were unsuccessful in securing about P33 billion to carry out the initiative which, if granted, would have enabled the swine industry to restore 25 percent of the breeder base.
Instead of containing and preventing the spread of ASF, the number of affected pigs doubled, she added.
“I’m not surprised to hear it from Dr. Ruth being director of NLP. For more than three years, the control [measures in place] were not effective because it is spreading all over,” said Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines Inc. president Rolando Tambago.
Sonaco said the DA will soon hold a meeting with industry stakeholders discuss various ways to curb ASF, among others.
Alfred Ng, vice president of National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc., said the government is encountering challenges in getting the cooperation of local government units (LGUs).
“We have seen in the past, some LGUs are cooperative while others have their own way of managing outbreaks,” said Ng.
Reduced to almost half
“That’s the reason why there is a breakdown and sometimes ASF continues to spread. On one hand, some LGUs may think it’s not economically viable to cull all animals, especially if the animals appear to be healthy,” added Ng.
Since 2019, the total number of affected areas hit 17 regions, 63 provinces, 816 cities or municipalities and 4,422 barangays, based on latest data from the Bureau of Animal Industry as of April 11.
To date, ASF is active in seven regions, 10 provinces, 35 municipalities and 78 barangays.
Citing industry estimates, Tambago said 5 million hogs were taken away from the population not because of the actual infection but to depopulation efforts for the fear of being infected.
Tambago estimated that local hog population had been reduced to almost half because of ASF. INQ