Department of Agriculture eyes Livestock Animal Registry

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) is partnering with the livestock industry to establish a Livestock Animal Registry (LAR) to ensure  that legitimate farmers get the benefit from government programs and allow smooth repopulation amid the spread of animal diseases.

Partnering with the private sector will ensure accurate industry data and that industry leaders will be able to come up with best business decisions, DA Undersecretary Deogracias Victor Savellano said in a recent assembly of the National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. (NFHFI).

“This will identify how many and where are the different farm animals and to whom should the government give any form of subsidy from funds earmarked by the government,” he said.

“Philippine Statistics Authority reports there are 10.2 million pigs. But, in fact, it could be just around 7.5 million to eight million if industry stakeholders said the industry lost around 40 percent from African Swine Fever (ASF) from 2019,” the DA official said.

With the thrust to repopulate hogs amid the continuing threat of ASF, the DA wants to ensure that the vaccine trial will be proven safe and effective.

The agency recently formed a technical working group (TWG) to integrate vaccination against ASF in the country’s policy to manage the spread of the deadly disease in hogs.

Phase 1 of the trial showed that 80 percent of the  tested animals  are producing antibodies 28 days post-vaccination. Trials for Phase 2 are ongoing in Batangas, Quezon, and Pangasinan until this month.

Meanwhile, Savellano said the DA would also study ways to help livestock farmers cut costs of farm inputs such as feed ingredients and livestock genetics (superior breed of piglets, calves, chicks).

The project aims to ease farmers’ burden on these costs that represent a sizable 70 percent of producing meat, milk and egg.

The focus for the DA Livestock Group is to produce more livestock products locally in large volumes and to balance local production with minimal importation.