AGRICULTURE secretary William Dar on Tuesday said the Philippines has enough supply of pork and pork products despite the recent outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in Davao region.
Citing the latest report from the Department of Agriculture (DA), Dar said only 1.7 percent of the 12.7 million national swine population is affected by the ASF.
“From the 216,000 depopulated swine, only about 13 percent is sick, but because of the 1-7-10 protocol, we have to depopulate every hog within the one-kilometer radius,” the Agriculture chief said.
The 1-7-10 protocol requires that:
* Within a one-kilometer radius of infected farms, the Bureau of Animal Industry and relevant DA regional field offices set up quarantine checkpoints at strategic locations to prevent live pigs and pork products from leaving the area. Pigs that test positive for the virus are also culled.
* Within a seven-kilometer radius of infected farms, the agencies surveil and test animals, and limit their movement.
* With a 10-kilometer radius of infected farms, the agencies require mandatory disease reporting from farmers and hog raisers.
The Cabinet official also reiterated that swill feeding is primarily the cause of the outbreak. Origin still being traced, identified possible sources of the ASF include food waste from ports or smuggled pork products, Dar said.
The DA is working closely with the local chief executives (LCEs) in the ASF-affected areas, he said.
On Feb. 10, President Rodrigo Duterte met with LCEs to discuss how they would address national concerns such as the new coronavirus and ASF.
Dar has urged local executives to work together in helping the affected local government units to properly manage, control, and contain the said concern.
In Western Visayas, the provinces of Negros Occidental, Iloilo, and Aklan already declared a ban on the entry of pork products from Mindanao to protect the local swine industry. Antique is also gearing up to follow suit.
Regarding the country’s reported inflation rate of 2.9 percent in January 2020, Dar requested the DA family to help tame food inflation, which was said to be 1 percent of the total inflation.
“We will help in terms of making supply more available, by bringing the produce from the countryside to the metropolitan areas like Metro Manila, and lower the retail prices of food commodities,” he said. (with reports from GMA News/PN)
