PORK producers and swine industry leaders on Tuesday, Sept. 17, asked the government to declare a state of national emergency due to African Swine Fever (ASF).
The industry players said they want to expedite the rollout of vaccines to stop the industry’s bleeding after the resurgence of the disease in many parts of the country in the past few months.
In a letter to the Department of Agriculture, Nicanor Briones of the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines appealed to the government to make the vaccines commercially available.
“Hindi kami kontento na maghihintay ng matagal kasi bawat araw napakarami na namamatay na baboy gawa nitong African Swine Fever,” Briones said.
He warned that some hog raisers have resorted to illicit vaccines bought online due to slow rollout of the government controlled vaccination.
“Marami na rin ang nagbabakuna na hindi kontrolado ng gobyerno, sa takot sa ASF, kanya-kanya nang diskarte, hindi namo-monitor ‘yun ng government,” Briones said.
Since the initial rollout, only 41 pigs have been given the AVAC vaccine. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Animal Industry said that they have recorded higher level of antibodies for those swine who received the vaccines.
ASF can be fatal for pigs but cannot be transmitted to humans. It was first recorded in the country in 2019. Higher prices of pork were blamed for pushing inflation up in 2021. (ABS-CBN News)
