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19 Eastern Visayas towns, cities now swine fever-free

By Sarwell Meniano

March 22, 2022, 2:04 pm

<p><strong>WINNING VS. ASF</strong>. A piggery farm in Leyte in this undated photo. The Department of Agriculture said 19 towns and cities in Eastern Visayas are now free of African swine fever. <em>(PNA file photo)</em></p>

WINNING VS. ASF. A piggery farm in Leyte in this undated photo. The Department of Agriculture said 19 towns and cities in Eastern Visayas are now free of African swine fever. (PNA file photo)

TACLOBAN CITY – At least 19 towns and cities in Eastern Visayas have been declared as African swine fever (ASF)-free after a year of battling the animal disease, the Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday.

After the ASF-free declaration for Abuyog, Leyte last year, and Ormoc City last month, 17 more areas in the region joined the list as their local governments succeeded to stop its spread.

These areas are Javier, MacArthur, Mayorga, Burauen, Dulag, Carigara, Leyte, Palo and Baybay City in Leyte; Guiuan, San Policarpo, Dolores, Oras, Balangiga, Llorente, and Maydolong in Eastern Samar; and Lope de Vega in Northern Samar.

“As of March 17, 2022, 19 areas in the region received the upgrade of their status from red to pink zones. The province of Biliran remains ASF-free without any reported cases of the animal disease,” DA Eastern Visayas Regional Director Angel Enriquez said in a gathering here.

With the declaration, these areas are now categorized as ASF "pink zone" from "red zone."

Based on the ASF color-coding scheme, “pink” zones serve as a buffer, where ASF is not present but adjacent to an infected zone.

It may also be an area previously infected, but the ASF virus has not been detected for at least 90 days, recovering from infected status, Enriquez said.

For the procedure on the local declaration of ASF-free status, local government units previously affected by the animal disease must have crafted a local executive order on the adoption of a village-based anti-ASF program; farm registry of the town, list of training on swine biosecurity attended by local governments, and summary of ASF history in their area.

Meanwhile, to revitalize the hog industry, the DA initiated the Integrated National Swine Production Initiatives for Recovery and Expansion (INSPIRE) program.

Enriquez said under the swine sentinelling component, the DA provides sentinel piglets to affected towns to jumpstart the expanded swine production activities in the region.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar turned over on March 17 a total of PHP11.8 million under the INSPIRE funds to the five affected provinces in the region.

The funds included the dispersal of 1,080 heads of piglets and 2,160 bags of feeds to the provinces and their respective ASF-affected beneficiaries.

Once the sentinel animals test negative for ASF, the DA and the local government unit can now begin the massive hog repopulation activities to stabilize the supply of live hogs and pork products in the market.

On Jan. 15, 2021, the DA in the region officially declared the prevalence of ASF in the region.

The virus was first detected in hog samples retrieved in Abuyog, Leyte.

Over a year of the animal outbreak, 11,272 infected hogs were culled affecting 2,852 farmers from the 65 towns and cities declared as red zones. (PNA)

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