Close to 350K hogs culled due to ASF

FILE PHOTO. Outbreaks of African swine fever have been reported in Laguna province, mainly on backyard farms in Calamba City and the towns of Los Baños, Victoria and Pakil. —KIMMY BARAOIDAN

MANILA, Philippines — Almost 350,000 hogs had so far been culled due to the African swine fever (ASF) that hit 25 provinces in the country, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Wednesday.

“Twenty five provinces po ay apektado ng African Swine Fever at almost 350,000 na yung na depopulate so this has some significant bearing doon sa ating hog industry,” DA Secretary William Dar said in a televised briefing.

Dar said ASF continues to “threaten” the country’s swine industry, noting that only a few countries have so far been able to contain the spread of the virus.

“It continues to be a threat to the Philippine swine industry and let me further mention na there are just a few countries in the world which have successfully eradicated the ASF. It took them, kagaya ng Spain, 30 years,” he said.

Despite this, Dar assured that the country has enough pork for the coming Christmas season.

“Pero gusto kong banggitin na yung imbentaryo po natin sa frozen pork, nandyan na sa warehouses and cold storages dito sa bansa natin kasama ang Metro Manila, ay nasa 55 percent more inventory compared doon sa last year na inventory natin. So meron pa rin tayong sapat,” he added.

(I want to mention that our frozen pork that is in warehouses and cold in the country including Metro Manila is at 55 percent more compared to last year’s inventory. We still have enough.)

EDV