EDITORIAL - Containing African swine fever

When African swine fever was first reported in the country in July 2019, stringent measures were imposed on the handful of affected farms, and in the transport of live hogs and pork. The threat posed by ASF to the country’s P100-billion-a-year hog and allied industries, however, was eclipsed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the urgency of the problem appeared to have been diminished by the fact that unlike swine flu, ASF does not infect humans or affect human health.

ASF, however, is devastating to the hog industry, and can pose threats to the country’s food security. Pork and chicken are the meats most preferred by consumers in this country. The viral infection has a 100 percent fatality rate for pigs, and swine death can come within days of ASF infection.

By July last year, 53 provinces had reported ASF outbreaks. Today, hog farms are still being depopulated as ASF continues to spread. As of January this year, pig mortality in Zamboanga City had reached 4,655, with 1,122 culled to prevent the further spread of the virus.

Farmers’ groups are lamenting what they describe as the government’s weak response to the outbreak, which has now spread to seven regions from just five in February. Reports of outbreaks have jumped from just 12 provinces in February to 54 this month. Some local government units notably in the Visayas have started bickering over bans imposed on the entry of live hogs, pork and pork products from ASF-affected areas.

Last month agriculture officials said vaccines for ASF may soon be available in the country. Clinical trials on the Vietnam-developed vaccine are being conducted in four farms in the Philippines by local company KPP Powers Commodities, under the supervision of the Bureau of Animal Industry. The government expects the trials to be completed next month.

Vietnam has been conducting field trials on the AVAC ASF Live Vaccine since July last year, and is set to distribute the vaccine to hog farms in that country. Until the vaccine becomes available, however, hog farmers in the Philippines want greater containment measures.

ASF has been reported in many other countries, and hog industry players are worried about the entry of contaminated pork and pork products from abroad. Agriculture producers are waiting for the Department of Agriculture to set up a 10-hectare first border facility where pork imports can be inspected first for ASF before being released to the domestic market. Inspections of live hogs, pork and processed pork products across the country can also be tightened. The industry cannot afford thousands more hog deaths while the government waits for the ASF vaccine to be rolled out.