Carol Z.

Maquinto
BSA V-A
Impact of ASF

African Swine Fever or ASF. When you heard about this on TV news,
radios and have read about this through social media platforms, what comes first
to your mind? Can anyone tell me?

I guess some of you had fear of eating pork meat, so you will resist
yourself from consuming any pork products. Am I right?

Allow me to state some facts.

What is ASF? According to the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS),

ASF is a highly contagious viral disease that affects pigs, warthogs and boars. It
causes pigs to have high fever and and lose their appetite. It also causes
hemorrhages in the skin and internal organs. Death is certain and pigs die in a
span of 2 to 10 days upon affliction. There is no known vaccine against ASF yet.

Which areas are affected? During the month of September, first outbreaks
were confirmed in some areas of Luzon specifically Rizal and Bulacan as per
Agricultural Secretary William dar. The disease has severely affected some
countries in Asia. In China, ASF outbreaks have been detected in 32 provinces in
China. Almost 1.2 million pigs there have been culled in an effort to halt he
further spread of the disease.

Can humans get sick? Although the disease is highly contagious in pigs,
NMIS said ASF is no considered as threat for human health. However, humans
can become carriers of the virus once tainted pork is ingested or if people get
close to the infected meat. The virus can also survive even if the meat has been
processed or canned. Secretary dar suspects that the virus may have been
brought by some overseas Filipinos who came from ASF-affected countries.

What has the government done? Prior to the public announcement that
laboratories. Quarantine checkpoints are set up in areas that are affected. Pigs
were also culled. The government has also banned pork importations from ASF
has cause hog deaths, the Philippine government sent tissue sample to affected
countries.

Prior to the outbreak news, the Philippines has inventory of 12 million

hogs. The hog industry provides livelihood for millions of Filipino families and
two-thirds or 65% of the industry comprises small backyard raisers.
 Although Batangas is not affected by the outbreak, still many farm owners
are suffering losses due to very low demand of pork meat. Hog raisers are
resisting specially the small ones because it is their only means of livelihood.
Their pigs are already outgrowing and farmers are having hard time in finding
buyers. LGUs also imposed fees per pig before you can sell it that adds more
burdens to sellers.

As of today, the cost of pigs per kilo is only 75 pesos. But pork meats in
public markets are still costing 190 pesos to 220 pesos. Feeds have no decrease
in prices. Farmers are complaining because they are the one who suffers the
most. Unfortunately, the industry is already losing millions of pesos daily.

The LGUs are launching programs that promote Batangas pork. We are
generally a pork eating country. When face with a threat like ASF, we need to be
together and endure. If there will be no movement internally, there will be more
dangerous risks from congestion and disease. I am not against importation, I just
want to emphasize the need to prioritize our local farmers to help sustain
livelihood. In such case, we are giving everyone in the sector a chance to
succeed.