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MANILA, Philippines — The spread of African Swine Fever (ASF) in Luzon will not dent the country’s pork supply as the Department of Agriculture (DA) will only implement quarantine in farms affected by the disease.
This was the assurance given by Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. when he was asked in an ambush interview at the Batasang Pambansa complex on Monday, as the entire Batangas province was placed under a state of calamity due to the spread of ASF.
“We have test kits deployed. Once an animal from a farm tests positive, we would still allow the remaining farms within the local government to move and go to the markets. It’s now a farm-based lockdown, and not the entire municipality or province. That’s why there would still be movement,” Laurel told reporters on the sidelines of deliberations on the DA’s proposed budget for 2025.
“We have learned from 2019 — this was the stricter lockdown — we have come to understand ASF as a disease. It can be cooked. In some countries, there are even processing plants for infected animals so that they can cook it and make it safe. I don’t see any shortage… Then there are vaccines arriving. So if the vaccine works then there will be no shortage,” he added.
Laurel said an initial 10,000 doses of ASF vaccine are expected to arrive by Aug. 23. More vaccines are expected to arrive after the emergency procurement, but it will not be enough for nationwide coverage, which will need around 600,000 doses.
“There’s a 10,000 dose target, priced at around P450 per dose based on what I saw, and these vaccines will be given by the government to the affected areas, especially red zones, for free,” he said.
“For nationwide, to be ready we need 600,000. So we’re procuring an emergency 10,000 [doses] because these are for municipalities only, but there will be a subsequent procurement for 60,000 because we need to have a buffer stock ready for implementation outside the red zones,” he added.
Laurel also said importation of pork products will continue, as the government cannot regulate markets from importing should there be a slight shortage of supply.
“Well, importation continues because pork is not being controlled in any way. So the market forces will dictate if they see a slight shortage. And the importers will just import, we do not have control over them, the law does not allow the DA to control the quantity that they can import,” he explained.
On Aug. 10, the DA announced that livestock checkpoints would be set up in Luzon to ensure that no diseased hogs or other animals will be transferred from one place to another to contain the spread of ASF.
READ: DA to set up Luzon checkpoints to combat spread of ASF
Several Batangas towns like Lobo have a rapid spread of ASF, with at least 16 out of 26 barangays reporting cases.
As of July 31, 8,818 animal deaths were recorded in Lobo alone, resulting in a loss worth P103,338,000.
READ: Batangas town under state of calamity due to ASF