Dar assures ASF impact in Davao still negligible

MANILA, Philippines — The presence of the dreaded African swine fever in Davao Occidental will not affect the supply of pork products in the area as long as the government succeeds in preventing the spread of the disease to the rest of Mindanao.

In a briefing Monday, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said supply would not be affected even as more pigs are expected to be culled in the coming days.

“The total number of hogs in Don Marcelino is just about 13,000. It’s not much of a significant number,” Dar said.

For the whole province, hog population is 100,000 heads. General Santos City is the biggest producer of hogs in Mindanao as most commercial farms are situated there.

The DA will start implementing the 1-7-10 protocol in Don Marcelino and in other identified affected areas while depopulation of hogs within the one-kilometer radius will follow.

“The DA will pay P5,000 per head of culled pig, regardless of age. We welcome additional assistance from other agencies and from the provincial LGU of Davao Occidental, led by Governor Claude Bautista, who committed to buy all the affected hogs in the province,” Dar said.

“We will also provide SURE Aid loans worth P30,000 each to affected hog raisers. The loan, which has zero-interest and payable in three years, can be used to fund other livelihood or agri-fishery projects,” he said.

The DA has replenished its quick response fund of P1.5 billion, which may be used for calamities such as ASF.

Last year, the DA received P1 billion in additional funds solely to be used for indemnifying affected hog raisers. The budget has already been fully utilized.

Meanwhile, the whole province is now on lockdown in terms of bringing pork products  in and out so as to avoid further spread of the virus.

The municipality of Don Marcelino in Davao Occidental tested positive for ASF after 1,000 pigs in the eight barangays of Linadasan, North Lamidan, South Lamidan, Calian, Mabuhay, Lawa, Nueva Villa and Baluntaya died. Don Marcelino is a coastal town facing the Davao Gulf and has only one major access road.

The DA is also conducting confirmatory tests in seven other barangays in the adjacent town of Malita including barangays Bito, Kidalapong, Tubalan, Felis, Mana, Talogoy, and New Argao.

It has yet to find out how ASF got into the town when the disease has been concentrated in Luzon. Dar said the investigation is still ongoing.

Mindanao Development Authority chairman Emmanuel Pinol said the government’s effort to contain the spread of ASF is expected to succeed following the total lockdown.

“The slaughter of hogs and sale of pork in the markets of Davao Occidental has been banned by the provincial government. Neighboring provinces have likewise established quarantine facilities which required all travellers to step on a foot bath while vehicles were sprayed with disinfectant,” he said.

The Philippines continues to see outbreaks of ASF with culled pigs already nearing 200,000 even as the government maintains that the disease is already tapering off.

In its recent follow-up reports to the World Organization for Animal Health, the Philippines said 130 new outbreaks have been recorded and a total of 191, 641 pigs were already killed since the outbreak started in August 2019.

Based on latest data from the government, there are 2,891 cases of ASF in the country.

Affected provinces include Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Aurora, Tarlac, Rizal, Cavite, Pangasinan, and parts of Metro Manila particularly Quezon City, Caloocan City and Malabon.

The ASF outbreak occurred in China in August 2018. It has since spread to other countries including Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine, Zambia, Vietnam, Mongolia, Cambodia, Hong Kong, North Korea, Laos, and Indonesia.