MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Animal Industry (DA) is set to build six mobile laboratory units (MLU) to be deployed in regions affected by African swine fever (ASF) as part of the country’s efforts to manage and contain the disease.
In a statement over the weekend, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Agriculture Secretary William Dar approved BAI’s project, which has a total cost of P100 million.
Each MLU can provide services to any local government unit (LGU), where there is ASF incidence and other animal diseases.
It may also serve as a mobile veterinary school to train LGU personnel in disease detection, prevention and monitoring.
The MLUs are scheduled to be deployed in ASF-affected regions on or before March 31.
“The mobile labs form part of the Duterte government’s leveled-up measures to revive the country’s hog industry and maintain a healthy animal sector,”Dar said.
Aside from the MLUs, the BAI in partnership with DA Regional Field Offices (RFOs) manages the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (RADDL) which is capable of testing and determining animal diseases through RT-PCR.
BAI director Reildrin Morales said P100 million worth of RT-PCR test kids have also been procured under the DA’s Quick Response Fund (QRF).He said these have already been distributed to LGUs nationwide.
Meanwhile, the DA continues to form alliances with private groups, as part of ongoing efforts to curb ASF and other transboundary animal diseases.
Dar and other DA officials recently met with experts from Batangas-based BioAssets Diagnostic Clinic to discuss approaches aimed at eradicating ASF and other transboundary animal diseases that have affected the livestock and poultry industry.
During the meeting, BioAssets presented the Brisk Response through In-location Diagnostics and Genome Sequencing (BRIDGES) Project – a three-part comprehensive unified approach, which can isolate and characterize the ASF virus at a molecular level.
BRIDGES may also be used to differentiate field strain from vaccine strain, which may fasttrack vaccine research development.
The P39.2 million project is jointly funded by BioAssets and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) under the Science for Change Program, with respective contributions of P23.3 million and P15.9 million.
DA-BAI and BioAssets agreed to organize a unified approach to jointly manage, control, and contain ASF and other transboundary animal diseases in partnership with LGUs, hog farmers’ groups, and other industry stakeholders.
They will also collaborate to enhance ASF biosecurity measures, provision of onsite detection tools, preventive diagnostics, establish required facilities, and capacitate personnel, among others.
Latest data from the BAI showed that there are only 46 barangays in the country with active ASF cases as of Jan. 20.