DA to finish indemnification payments to ASF-hit hog raisers

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) will soon be able to complete indemnification payments to farmers whose hogs were culled due to African swine fever (ASF) as its request for an additional budget of P461 million has been approved by the President.

In a statement over the weekend, the DA said it received requests to indemnify affected hog raisers, amounting to P2.158 billion.  Of the total,  P1.697 billion has already been paid to 48,530 farmer-beneficiaries.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the remaining amount of P461 million is set to be released to indemnify the remaining backyard raisers who owned roughly 92,200 culled hogs.

The DA, through its regional field offices (RFOs) and the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), in partnership with local government units (LGUs), have been paying P5,000 for every culled pig of backyard raisers in ASF-infected areas.

In addition to the indemnification, the DA  has provided ASF-affected farmers financial and technical assistance through the agency’s twin program -- called “Bantay ASF sa Barangay” and Integrated National Swine Production Initiatives (INSPIRE). Both initiatives are implemented by the DA’s National Livestock Program (NLP), in partnership with the LGUs, swine raisers’ groups, the private sector, and professional veterinary associations.

“We will continue to provide farmers with needed technical and financial assistance, so they can start anew, as we strongly pursue efforts to contain, manage and control the ASF, and subsequently revive the country’s swine industry,” Dar said.

He said the  Duterte administration 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, worth P30 billion; Development Bank of the Philippines, P12 billion and the DA’s Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), P800 million.

Meanwhile, the DA has already distributed 8,169 sentinel pigs to 3,061 farmer-beneficiaries in 312 ASF-free barangays under its hog repopulation program.

DA National Livestock Program director Ruth Miclat said the DA would  also establish 10 community-based production facilities in ASF-free areas or “green zones” through clustering and consolidation, worth P50 million including a climate-controlled 300-head grower capacity building located in a bio-secured area.

She said 16 swine breeder multiplier farms worth P125 million would also be established, in partnership with hog farmers’ cooperatives and associations (FCAs), LGUs, and state universities and colleges (SUCs).

The DA is encouraging backyard and commercial hog raisers to have their animal stocks insured with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) to avail of insurance coverage of up to P10,000 for fatteners and P14,500 for breeders, respectively.

Moreover, BAI director Reildrin Morales said the DA  also procured and distributed 38 ASF rapid PCR test kits to help affected LGUs through their provincial veterinarians in the early detection and sustained surveillance efforts on the ground.

He said  all DA Regional Animal Diagnostic Laboratories (RADDL) now have RT-PCR equipment that could be used not only to detect ASF virus, but also other animal or human disease-causing organisms.

With the continued impact of  ASF, the livestock sector continued to decline in the third quarter, registering a 15.2 percent reduction in production.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) howed that hog production continued to drop in the third quarter by 17.8 percent.

Agriculture Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and Research Fermin Adriano stressed earlier that while repopulation efforts are already ongoing in the local hog sector, recovery wold  likely  happen next year, given the time needed for the production process.