ILOILO City – The Iloilo Provincial Veterinarian’s Office will prioritize 1,350 backyard farmers in the sentineling program once it is made available by the Department of Agriculture (DA) to proceed with the recovery and repopulation measures against African Swine Fever (ASF).
The sentineling program will determine the readiness of an area toward recovery.
“They are our prospects because number one, they are the previously affected farmers, and they are willing to engage again in hog raising. So they are the first priority,” provincial veterinarian Dr. Darel Tabuada said in an interview on Tuesday, Dec. 5.
Tabuada said they have already completed the training on biosecurity guidelines and Tapak (Step), Hugas (Wash) kag Matinlo nga Pagpakaon (clean feeding), or TaHuM campaign against ASF for the farmers from 27 municipalities that have recorded cases of the hog disease.
“We selected 50 farmers willing to go into swine raising from each municipality,” he said.
The participants came from Oton, San Miguel, Santa Barbara, Alimodian, Maasin, Leganes, Zarraga, Barotac Nuevo, Dumangas, Janiuay, Mina, Lambunao, Badiangan, San Enrique, Dueñas, Pototan, Dingle, Banate, Barotac Viejo, Estancia, Batad, Balasan, Carles, Concepcion, Ajuy, San Dionisio, and New Lucena.
The topics discussed include ASF recovery updates, biosecurity guidelines, and the TaHuM campaign.
“These are minimum biosecurity measures that we teach our farmers once they resume their hog raising. We will change the practice of swine raising from conventional to integrating biosecurity component,” Tabuada added.
The biosecurity component includes the provision of a perimeter fence with one entry and one exit, a foot bath and washing area and disinfection procedures.
After the training, Tabuada said they would assess the farms to determine if they implemented biosecurity measures.
He said the DA is validating the list submitted by the province for possible inclusion in the sentineling program. (PNA)/PN
