Less than 1% of hog industry affected by ASF, says SINAG

The African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak in selected areas is so far having minimal impact on the country’s hog industry, but the Philippines remains at risk as it continues to allow imported meat products, the private sector said Tuesday.

Less than 1% of the hog industry has been affected by the ASF at this point, according to the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG).

“So far we reported 7,600 heads out of 12,700,000 heads, so this is around 0.059% of the total,” SINAG chairman Rosendo So told GMA News Online.

A recent report by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) showed 97% of the reported losses in Asia due to the ASF were recorded in the Philippines. The report covers the two from August 30 to September 12.

The losses were calculated by the OIE as the sum of dead and culled animals from the infected farm or backyard premises of the reported outbreak.

The OIE said the losses were notified through the World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS).

“For now (it has minimal impact), but if we continue to import meat from other countries, we are never safe from ASF coming in to our country,” said So.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) last week said blood samples from pigs in the Philippines tested positive of ASF.

The samples were collected from hogs in three barangays in Rizal province where some 100 pigs died last month. These were sent to the World Reference Laboratory in Pirbright, England for confirmatory testing.

The Philippines currently bans the importation of meat products from Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Cambodia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Laos, Latvia, Mongolia, Moldova, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine, Vietnam, and Zambia.

The ASF outbreak has since been contained in several areas in Bulacan and Rizal, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said on Monday.

The incidents were specifically limited to Barangay Pritil in Guiguinto, Bulacan and in other barangays in Rodriguez, San Mateo, and Antipolo in Rizal. —VDS, GMA News