DA-12 moves to prevent ASF in Cotabato from further spreading
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 16 August) – Agriculture officials in Region 12 have further tightened biosecurity measures and quarantine protocols to prevent the further spread of the deadly African Swine Fever (ASF) that already hit big hog raisers in Cotabato province in the region.
Department of Agriculture Region 12 director Roberto Perales on Thursday said Cotabato province is the only area in the region so far where ASF has reemerged.
“It is the only ASF-affected area in Soccsksargen,” Perales told Newsline.PH.
Soccsksargen comprises the provinces of South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and the chartered city of General Santos.
But in an ASF bulletin in its website on August 8, the Bureau of Animal Industry listed 22 barangays in Sultan Kudarat as ASF-affected areas. These barangays are in the towns of Bagumbayan, Lebak, Colombio, Isulan and the City of Tacurong.
Perales said they have imposed tighter border control to ensure that the disease will not spread to other areas.
The DA has listed 61 barangays as ASF-affected areas in nine towns in Kidapawan City in Cotabato province.
Perales said they are working out possible cash assistance to affected hog-raisers in the province.
Cotabato local officials said the disease has prompted them to cull around 5,000 pigs found to be ASF-infected.
The reemergence of the disease in Cotabato has so far resulted in losses estimated at P50 million, said Eliseo Mangliwan, Cotabato ASF focal person. This is the third time ASF has hit the province since 2019 and 2022, he said.
The situation in Cotabato province prompted agriculture officials in nearby towns and provinces to take stricter measures other than preventing the entry of live pigs, pork and pork products in their areas.
Koronadal City Veterinary Office head Dr. Charlemagne Calo told reporters the threat of ASF remains as long as it is not completely eradicated, pointing out that hog raisers and pig farms must take stricter protocols and biosecurity measures.
He said hog raisers must limit who they would allow in their hog farms and pens.
“They must strictly not allow anyone to wear clothes and footwears that were worn outside,” he said.
The veterinary official told hog raisers to cover their pig pens to prevent birds, rodents and other animals that may be virus carriers from entering.
Birds usually move from farm to farm and may have eaten feeds from an infected pig pen, he explained.
He encouraged even the backyard hog raisers to put up walls in their pens.
In Kiblawan town, Davao del Sur, which shares boundary with Cotabato province, local authorities urged residents to immediately inform any personnel of the Provincial Veterinary Office about incidents in their neighborhood of pigs having died.
“It is important that matters like these be reported immediately,” the Kiblawan Municipal Agriculture Office said on social media.
In Magsaysay town, also in Davao del Sur, Mayor Ronie Sarande said they have imposed stricter policies on the entry of live hogs, processed meat and even poultry products.
Sarande issued an executive order to this effect as soon as they learned about the ASF reemergence in nearby Cotabato province.
“We have to ensure food security in our town and to protect our animals from being infected with diseases,” he said. (Rommel Rebollido/MindaNews)
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