GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNew / 8 July) – The city veterinarian in Koronadal has urged farmers and backyard hog raisers in the city and nearby towns of South Cotabato to stop production amid a continuing threat of African Swine Fever (ASF).
This followed the discovery of fresh ASF infections in swine populations in some villages in the towns of Banga and Surallah. The two towns are perennial ASF hotspots, where authorities culled hundreds of pigs since March this year.
Dr. Flora Bigot, South Cotabato Provincial Veterinarian Office (PVET) chief said on Wednesday that they have categorized 10 barangays in Banga and one in Surallah as “ASF Red Zone.”
The swine population in the towns of Lake Sebu, Norala, Sto.Niño, Tantangan, Tupi and T’Boli and all barangays in Koronadal City were also placed under close watch for possible infections, Bigot added.
With this development, animal quarantine checkpoints in Koronadal City have become more strict in enforcing biosecurity procedures, prohibiting the transport of swine, cooked, raw or processed pork and its by-products from nearby towns, especially ASF-hit areas.
“Wala munang produksyon at pagpapalawak ng babuyan sa ngayon,” (No production and expansion of piggery for now) Dr. Charlemagne Calo told hog raisers.
The statement did not sit well with those who rely mainly on hog raising as their source of income.
Many residents have started raising hogs in anticipation of high demand towards the end of the year.
Benjie Gayod, a hog farmer from barangay Sinolon, Tboli town, could only watch in dismay and do nothing when authorities came to collect his pigs at his farm. His village shares a common boundary with a Red Zone barangay in Banga.
“I cannot understand why they included my pigs when my farm is too far and secluded,” Gayod said.
At least 250 pigs were culled in Tboli and 200 others in Banga were culled and buried in an eight-foot deep mass grave last week of June. At least 98 backyard hog raisers were affected by the swine depopulation, the PVET reported.
Bigot said the recent infection in Banga was traced to an ASF-positive pig that was brought to the town while the one in Surallah was caused by an infected boar used for breeding by backyard hog raisers.
“We are doing our best to contain the disease in Banga and Surallah,” he said.
But on June 20, a pig from Banga found its way to an abattoir in Davao City and was discovered to be infected with ASF, sending veterinary officials scrambling to contain the spread of the disease.
Dr. Maria Corazon Sepulveda, assistant chief of the Davao City Veterinary Office surveillance team, said a pig from Banga was processed on June 20 at the city’s Maa slaughterhouse. It was found positive for ASF during a postmortem inspection, she said.
A series of ASF outbreaks since March this year in the towns of Banga and Surralah have prompted the Department of Agriculture to declare all of South Cotabato as an ASF Red Zone.
The declaration prompted South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. to order veterinary officials to intensify their biosecurity measures and ban the movement of hogs and pork products.
Bigot’s office bared that they have culled since March over 800 heads from backyard hog raisers in Banga and Surallah.
PVET reported on April 28 that the outbreak has been contained and began a 90-day clearing process in the affected areas.
But the disease persisted and spread because hogs continued to be transported from the ASF-infected areas, the report added. (Rommel Rebollido/MindaNews)
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