Agri dep’t soldiers on in fight against pig disease

MANILA, Philippines  —More than P10 million worth of projects intended to help check the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak were made available to Cabadbaran City in Agusan del Norte, the The Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Wednesday.

In a social media post, the DA’s regional office in Caraga said the amount would be used to build a P6-million structure, and procure 300 piglets valued at P2.4 million as well as feeds, drugs and biologics worth P1.6 million.

“The said project is also part of the DA’s interventions for a sustainable source of quality hogs that would be available and accessible to the local farmers in the city,” DA Caraga said.

The initiative is part of the DA’s Integrated National Swine Production Initiatives for Recovery and Expansion (Inspire) Program.

Introduced in 2021, the program is aimed at helping the hog growing sector recuperate from the ASF outbreak that started in 2019, through faster repopulation and expanded production by way of farm clustering and consolidation.

Based on the Bureau of Animal Industry’s monitoring as of Dec. 29, active ASF cases have been recorded in 10 provinces in six regions or in 71 barangays of 28 towns.

Affected provinces are La Union, Zambales, Mindoro Oriental, Romblon, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Sorsogon, Misamis Occidental and Surigao del Sur.

Since 2019, the total number of affected areas is 72 out of the country’s 82 provinces or 946 cities and towns.

The prevalence of this animal disease, along with the El Niño phenomenon and the export ban implemented by some countries, pushed President Marcos to maintain the reduced tariff rates on rice, corn and meat until the end of 2024 to keep food prices low for consumers.