GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines – The Department of Agriculture (DA) in the Soccsksargen region has ordered tighter biosecurity measures and quarantine protocols to prevent the further spread of the deadly African swine fever (ASF) that infected hog farms in Cotabato province.
DA Soccsksargen regional director Roberto Perales said on Thursday, August 15, that Cotabato province is the only area in their region with incidents of ASF, even as an earlier DA report listed 22 villages in other Soccsksargen provinces that were hit by ASF.
“Cotabato is the only ASF affected area in Soccsksargen,” Perales told Newsline.PH. Soccsksargen comprises the provinces of South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and the chartered city of General Santos.
An ASF bulletin issued by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) in its website on August 8 listed 22 barangays as ASF-affected areas in five localities in the Soccsksargen province of Sultan Kudarat. These are the City of Tacurong and the towns of Bagumbayan, Lebak, Columbio, and Isulan.
Perales said they have imposed tighter border control to ensure that the disease will not spread to other areas. The DA has so far listed 61 barangays as ASF-affected areas in Kidapawan City, as well as nine towns in Cotabato province.
The disease has prompted local authorities in Cotabato to cull around 5,000 pigs.
The re-emergence of the disease in Cotabato has so far resulted in losses estimated at P50 million, said Eliseo Mangliwan, Cotabato ASF focal person. This is the third time ASF has hit the province since 2019 and 2022.
Perales said they are working out possible cash assistance to affected hog-raisers in the province.
More stringent measures
Koronadal City Veterinary Office head Dr. Charlemagne Calo said the threat of ASF remains as long as it is not completely eradicated, pointing out that hog raisers and pig farms must take stricter protocols and biosecurity measures.
He said hog raisers must limit whom they allow in their hog farms and pens.
“They must strictly not allow anyone to wear clothes and footwear that were worn outside,” he said.
The veterinary official told hog raisers to cover their pig pens with nets to prevent birds, rodents, and other animals that may be virus-carriers from entering.
Birds usually move from farm to farm and may have eaten feeds from an infected pig pen, he clarified.
Calo also encouraged even the backyard hog raisers to put up walls in their pens.
In Kiblawan town, Davao del Sur, which shares a common boundary with Cotabato province, local authorities urged residents to immediately inform any personnel of the provincial veterinary office about incidents of pig deaths in their neighborhood.
“It is important that matters like these be reported immediately,” the Kiblawan Municipal Agriculture Office said on social media.
In Magsaysay, Davao del Sur, Mayor Ronie Sarande said they have imposed stricter policies on the entry of live hogs, processed meat and even poultry products.
Sarande issued an executive order to this effect as soon as they learned about the ASF re-emergence in nearby Cotabato province.
“We have to ensure food security in our town and to protect our animals from being infected with diseases,” Sarande said. – Rappler.com