FARMER'S AID. A hog farmer affected by African swine fever (ASF) receives financial assistance from the provincial government on March 2, 2023. Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Darel Tabuada on Monday (March 27) said the key to protecting hogs from ASF is through biosecurity. (Photo courtesy of Office of the Provincial Veterinarian-Iloilo)
ILOILO CITY – Iloilo hog raisers are better prepared to fight the spread of African swine fever (ASF) as the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian decided to strongly execute their preventive program down to the farm level.
“ASF border control is not effective, depopulation is not effective. We are developing biosecurity at the farm level,” said Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Darel Tabuada in an interview on Monday.
Tabuada said that farmers now know how to address the ASF and how to protect their swine, adding that the only key is biosecurity.
Biosecurity is a means to ensure that the virus could not enter the farm and among the most effective strategy is to animal-proof the pig pen and provide a footbath.
By animal proofing, the pig pen has to be surrounded by a fence where animals such as dogs, cats, and even birds could not enter.
Even the owner can only enter the pig pen during feeding and cleaning time but only after taking a bath and changing clothes.
“The only purpose that you can enter the pig pen is when cleaning and feeding,” he said.
Tabuada added that the province has also procured and stocked up disinfectants from donors to be augmented to farmers.
Aside from disinfectants, there are also regular farm visits for monitoring by agriculture technicians.
The public, once their municipality is tagged for ASF, no longer panics unlike before, currently, the focus of the province is on the validation of hog farmers for financial assistance and newly affected areas, Tabuada added.
“Based on the instruction of Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. we have to live with the ASF because it’s already here. Almost the entire province is affected,” he said.
As of March 24, the ASF has been monitored in 119 barangays from 24 local government units in Iloilo as per the report of the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian.
The provincial veterinarian said that based on Executive Order 545 series of 2022 issued by Defensor containing the province’s ASF prevention, containment, depopulation, and recovery measures, farmers whose hogs were depopulated by the offices of the municipal agriculture or the provincial veterinary and those who voluntarily depopulated their swine in the presence of the municipal or provincial veterinary office can receive financial assistance.
As of March 23, around PHP6.061 million cash assistance has been released to affected farmers in municipalities of Oton, San Miguel, Alimodian, Leganes, Mina, New Lucena, Sta. Barbara, Barotac Nuevo, Barotac Viejo, Pototan, Janiuay and New Lucena.
Another PHP6.21 million is being processed for affected farmers from San Dionisio, Batad, and Leganes.
The assistance ranges from PHP7,000 up to PHP30,000 per affected hog grower. (PNA)
