The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) on Tuesday appealed to travelers, including returning overseas Filipinos (ROF), not to bring pork and other pork products as pasalubong this coming Christmas and New Year holidays to curb the spread of African swine fever (ASF) in the provinces.
At a news conference, BAI Director Reildrin Morales said travelers can help the government in its fight against ASF by not transporting pork and its meat products, including fresh, frozen or processed ham.
“Just to be sure, to all travelers in the coming holidays, please do not bring pork meat and its products because it could cause the spread of ASF virus to ASF-free provinces,” he said.
According to Morales, BAI will further intensify its surveillance and biosecurity measures against ASF at barangay and local government units (LGU) levels to prevent the spread of ASF in other areas.
“We will focus on this in the coming days to make sure travelers will not bring pork and its by products during their trips,” he said.
As of December 2, Morales said, ASF is only active in Nueva Viscaya, Quezon, Marinduque, Northern Samar, Easter Samar, Misamis Oriental, North Cotabato, Surigao del Sur, and Agusan del Norte.
“More than 500 places already have no reported ASF cases. We will have to make sure that the virus is not circulating anymore in these areas [and] recover them from the status of infected to freed,” he said.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has said its hog repopulation and Bantay ASF sa Barangay (BABay ASF) programs, in partnership with local government units, hog raisers, and the private sector, are gradually boosting the local swine industry toward recovery.
Morales also said the DA has distributed 9,208 sentinel pigs to 3,601 farmers through its regional field offices as of November 26, 2021.
Morales explained that sentinel pigs are those being monitored to find out if an infectious disease, like ASF, or other harmful agents are present.
The DA is distributing sentinel piglets in areas where there are no reported cases of ASF for at least 90 days.
Earlier, the DA said it will establish 10 community-based production facilities in ASF-free areas or “green zones” through clustering and consolidation in an initiative worth P50 million, including a climate-controlled 300-head grower capacity building located in a bio-secured area and 16 swine breeder multiplier farms, worth P125 million, in partnership with hog farmers’ cooperatives and associations, LGUs, and state universities and colleges.
The government is allotting a total of P42.8 billion for lending to backyard and commercial hog raisers in ASF-free areas through the Land Bank of the Philippines (P30 billion), Development Bank of the Philippines (P12 billion) and the DA’s Agricultural Credit Policy Council (P800 million).