ASF THREAT

Pork supply enough amid culling of 350k pigs — DA’s Dar

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said on Wednesday that the country has enough pork supply for the upcoming Christmas season despite the continued threat of the African swine fever (ASF).

“Marami pa tayong imbentaryo, if we compare iyong imbentaryo natin last year, the same period, mayroon tayong 55% more pork,” Dar said at the Laging Handa briefing.

Dar, however, appealed to cold storage owners to release the frozen pork supplies on a regular basis.

“Mayroon tayong tinitingnan na minamanipula nila iyong paglabas ng frozen pork kasi mayroon naman nandiyan na sa mga cold storages natin,” he said. “We will do what is necessary para mapalabas regularly itong mga nasa warehouses.”

The Cabinet official said the ASF outbreak has affected 25 provinces and around 350,000 pigs have been culled to slow the spread of the disease.

“It continues to be a threat to the Philippine swine industry, and let me further mention na there are just a few countries in the world which have successfully eradicated ASF. Pero it took them kagaya ng Spain, 30 years,” Dar said.

Early this year, President Rodrigo Duterte created a task force to prevent the entry and control the spread of animal-borne diseases amid the ASF outbreak in some areas in the country.

The National Task Force on Animal-Borne Diseases is chaired by the Agriculture Secretary with the Health Secretary as vice chairperson, according to Executive Order 105 signed by Duterte on February 21. — RSJ, GMA News