SAN JOSE, Antique – Of Antique’s 18 towns, only Libertad, Culasi and Sibalom have established African swine fever (ASF) task forces.
Those that have no task forces merely designated one staff from the Municipal Agriculture Office assigned with the livestock section to do the monitoring and reporting on the display and sale of pork-based products prohibited in Antique.
ASF is a highly contagious hemorrhagic viral disease that spreads rapidly in pigs. Since there is no known vaccine against it yet – sick pigs die in two to 10 days – ASF is destructive to the swine industry.
The Provincial Veterinary Office (Provet) urged local government units (LGUs) to form municipal task forces against ASF.
Provet Public Health Division head Dr. Rafael Marco Ardamil said the municipal task forces would be mandated to enforce Provincial Ordinance 2020-242 prohibiting the transport and sale to Antique of pork-based products from Luzon, Mindanao and other areas with ASF cases.
“The municipal task forces will conduct surveillance on the ground,” he said.
Meanwhile, Elma Pena, president of the Sibalom Livestock and Poultry Raisers Association, said they have received orders for live weight hogs from traders in Luzon.
“We are now able to ship 1,500 hogs weekly with the increasing demand due to the Christmas season,” Pena said.
The buying price for the live weight has increased to P150 per kg as compared to the previous month’s P105.
“We experienced the worst from July to August last year when the buying price was only P75 to P80 per kg live weight because of the pandemic,” Pena said.
Last year, they had difficulty with their shipment to Manila due to quarantine restrictions, and traders from Luzon had to undergo the required 14-day quarantine.
Pena urged LGUs to closely safeguard the entry of pork products from ASF-affected areas by creating task forces so that the local hog industry could survive. (PNA)
