ANTIQUE – The Antique Provincial Veterinary (ProVet) Office has noted a decline in live weight prices for swine as local farmers recover from the impact of African swine fever (ASF).
Dr. Marco Rafael Ardamil, chief of the ProVet public health division, said that the price of live weight has dropped to P170 per kilo despite the high demand for pork this Christmas season.
“Antique is now ASF-free, which is why more swine raisers are able to breed,” he said.
Ardamil said that during the Christmas season or early September 2024, live weight costs around P200 per kilo, becoming even more costly after the province was hit by ASF.
Antique had its first confirmed ASF case in the municipality of Hamtic on June 19, 2023, but recorded its last confirmed case on Oct. 19 of the same year.
“The municipality of Hamtic was reclassified into the pink zone (buffer) after more than a year, on Oct. 31, 2024, when it no longer recorded swine mortalities due to ASF,” Ardamil said.
He said the two neighboring towns, San Jose de Buenavista and Sibalom, which were affected by the three initial ASF cases from Hamtic, had been reclassified to the pink zone after implementing strict biosecurity measures.
The town of San Jose de Buenavista was reclassified into the pink zone in July, and then Sibalom in August 2024.
“The Department of Agriculture (DA) provided piglets for sentinelling to swine-raisers in the reclassified municipalities so they could start breeding again,” Ardamil said.
He said it only takes four months for a piglet to become a sow, which is why there is now an ample supply of live weight in the province.
Ardamil also said there is pork importation and supply from Mindanao, which is why Antiqueño consumers are confidently assured of enough pork at lower prices this Christmas. (PNA)
