SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – Losses due to African swine fever (ASF) in this capital town of Antique has already reached P1.2 million.
Municipal Agriculture Officer Rene Barte said 10 barangays reported 106 hog mortalities as of July 3.
“The hog mortalities were from 19 swine raisers,” he said on Tuesday.
The town’s agriculture office already submitted a report to the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) since most of the affected swine raisers are enrolled with the state’s agriculture insurance.
“We have 324 raisers insured before the spread of the ASF,” Barte said.
Almost 50 percent of the 700 hog raisers in San Jose de Buenavista have PCIC insurance.
With the indemnity guaranteed by the PCIC, the local government has no immediate plan to declare a state of calamity.
Barte reminded hog raisers to always secure a barangay health certificate before having their swine slaughtered at the municipal abattoir in Barangay San Pedro, as provided for in Executive Order 42 signed by Mayor Elmer Untaran on June 27.
He added that meat vendors are complaining of having less pork supply because farmers allegedly sell their slaughtered animals to their neighbors.
The EO prohibits backyard slaughtering, and those brought to the abattoir can only be sold in the barangay where the hog came from.
Traders also took advantage of the ASF scare and reduced the live weight price of hogs to P57 per kilogram from the previous P120 to P140.
Barte also reminded officials of unaffected barangays to strictly implement their border control. (PNA)/PN
