BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental administrator Atty. Rayfrando Diaz urged Cebu governor Gwendolyn Garcia to reconsider the latter’s ban on pork products from Negros Island.
Garcia issued an executive order implementing a temporary ban on the entry of live hogs, sows, piglets, boar semen, pork, and pork-related products from Negros Island into Cebu from March 6 to April 5, 2023.
The order came after African Swine Fever (ASF) was detected in Carcar City on March 1.
ASF-positive blood samples were taken from swines that mingled with other swines allegedly coming from Negros and being kept in stockyards.
Garcia, however, did not specify from which part of Negros they originated.
In response, Diaz said the provincial government of Cebu should reconsider its ban as the Department of Agriculture had not classified Negros Occidental as an ASF-affected area.
Diaz added that there are now growing concerns among local swine producers, especially those who are shipping their products to Eastern Visayas.
“This is a matter of food security in other provinces,” Diaz pointed out.
Negros Occidental is one of the top backyard hog producers in the country, with an industry pegged at more than P6 billion.
Negros Occidental remained ASF-free due to its strict biosecurity protocols./PN
