After years of battling foot-and-mouth disease, the Philippines’s efforts to stamp out the highly contagious viral disease was recognized in May 2015 by the World Organisation for Animal Health or OIE. The Philippines was declared FMD-free country not practicing vaccination. Despite the influx of meat imports, the country was able to maintain its FMD-free status for the last seven years.
The virus that causes FMD can be transmitted via contaminated meat and other animal products, and it can survive in the environment for several weeks (See, “Australia tightens meat import rules for foot-and-mouth disease,” in the BusinessMirror, September 8, 2022). FMD is a highly contagious disease that affects cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. It is characterized by fever and blister-like sores on the tongue and lips, in the mouth, on the teats and between the hooves, according to a Bloomberg report.
FMD is difficult to control as it is often spread by humans via their shoes, clothes, and luggage. Particles can even live in people’s noses where they may survive for up to 24 hours. The disease is considered one of the most harmful livestock diseases, which can potentially cause billions of dollars of losses each year.
While the Philippines remains free from the dreaded livestock disease, its neighbor Indonesia is seeing a spike in cases as the virus struck cattle herds. The outbreak of FMD in Indonesia has prompted countries like Australia to put in place restrictions by banning the entry of imported meat for personal use to keep the disease at bay. The livestock sector generates huge income for many countries, and FMD outbreaks have the potential of causing huge revenue losses.
In the Philippines, 70 percent of our swine inventory in April to June came from backyard farms, according to the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). These are farms that have less than 10 heads of hogs and are most at risk to be affected by outbreaks of animal diseases like FMD and African swine fever (ASF). An outbreak can cause many backyard raisers to incur losses.
Authorities need to heighten their vigilance against the entry of imported meat products given the outbreak of FMD in Indonesia and the bird flu affecting Western countries where the weather will soon become cooler. It would do well for all concerned agencies to strictly monitor the entry of meat products, to ensure that contaminated meat will not be able to enter the country’s food supply. Putting restrictions in place to prevent the entry of products from countries hit by FMD and other animal diseases will help save the country’s livestock and poultry subsectors.
Our livestock and poultry subsectors can help boost government efforts to bolster food production at a time of spiraling inflation. These subsectors performed better than other farm subsectors in the first half of the year, according to the PSA. The poultry subsector, in particular, helped lift the performance of the farm sector during the period.
We can all help preserve the enviable FMD-free status that the Philippines gained in 2015. And the best way to do this is to prevent outbreaks of animal diseases like FMD, which will cause farmers to incur huge losses. Let’s all help protect the livelihood of our livestock and poultry producers, who play a vital role in helping stabilize food prices in the country.