South Cotabato farmers told to suspend raising hogs due to ASF threat

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines – Local veterinary officials called on hog raisers in Koronadal City and South Cotabato to temporarily halt raising pigs because of the increasing cases of African swine fever (ASF) infections.

They made the call as new ASF infections were found in swine populations in some villages in the towns of Banga and Surallah. The two towns are perennial ASF hotspots, where authorities have been culling hundreds of pigs since March.

“Wala munang produksyon at pagpapalawak ng babuyan sa ngayon (We need to stop producing and raising hogs at this time),” city veterinarian Charlemagne Calo said on Tuesday, July 5.

On Wednesday, July 6, South Cotabato provincial veterinarian Flora Bigot said 10 villages in Banga town and another in Surallah town have been categorized as “ASF red zones” because of confirmed infections.

The swine population in the towns of Lake Sebu, Norala, Santo Niño, Tantangan, Tupi, and T’Boli, and all barangays in Koronadal City were also placed under close watch for possible infections, Bigot said.

Animal quarantine checkpoints in Koronadal have become more strict in enforcing biosecurity procedures, prohibiting the transport of swine, cooked, raw, or processed pork from nearby towns, especially ASF-hit areas.

The threat came just as many backyard hog raisers have started raising pigs in anticipation of increased year-end demand for pork.

Benjie Gayod, a hog farmer from Barangay Sinolon, Tboli town, could only watch in dismay when authorities took pigs from his farm and subjected the animals to culling.

His village shared a common boundary with a barangay in Banga that has been classified as an “ASF red zone.”

“I cannot understand why they included my pigs when my farm is too far and secluded,” Gayod said.

Bigot said recent infections in Banga were traced to a pig that was brought to the town.

Another one in Surallah was traced to an infected boar from another place that was used as a breeder.

Bigot said, “We are doing our best to contain the disease in Banga and Surallah.”

The provincial government has so far culled more than 400 hogs owned by backyard raisers in Banga and Surallah alone since March.

A series of ASF outbreaks in the two towns since March prompted the Department of Agriculture (DA) to declare all of South Cotabato as an ASF hotspot.

The declaration prompted South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. to order veterinary officials to scale up biosecurity measures and ban the movement of hogs and pork products.

But in June, an ASF-infected hog from Banga town found its way to an abattoir in Davao City, sending veterinary officials there scrambling to contain the spread of the disease.

Dr. Maria Corazon Sepulveda, assistant chief of the Davao City Veterinary Office’s surveillance team, said the pig from Banga was processed on June 20 at the city’s Maa slaughterhouse. The animal was found positive for ASF during a postmortem inspection. – Rappler.com