Iloilo hog industry bounces back

ILOILO CITY: The severely hit hog industry in Iloilo province by the African swine fever (ASF) in previous months is starting to bounce back, with some commercial and backyard farms already resuming swine-raising projects, the Provincial Veterinarian's Office (PVO) chief said Wednesday. At a press conference, PVO head, Dr. Darel Tabuada said the hog-raising sufficiency level is rising to 71.6 percent after it dropped to its lowest at 36.37 percent at the height of the ASF infection. 'We have 15 municipalities upgraded from red to pink; we have 13 municipalities in the red zone. In terms of inventory, it is gradually increasing in the province,' he said. Tabuada said that the swine inventory as of July 10 reached 106,420 heads. He said if the swine inventory steadily increases, there is a big chance of the province reaching the 100 percent sufficiency level. He added that they are also processing the documents for 14 municipalities for the sentinelling, targeting 836 farmer-beneficiaries. He said once loc al governments comply with the required documents, they will release the budget for the sentinelling. The farmers are spread in San Miguel, Barotac Viejo, New Lucena, Sta. Barbara, Mina, Dingle, Concepcion, Batad, Banate, Oton, Janiauy, Leganes,Zarraga, and Lambunao towns. Each farmer will receive two piglets. The province has allocated over PHP10 million for the project. 'We wanted to strengthen farm bio-security at the backyard level. We have to adjust and accept the fact that ASF is just around, so we have to protect our farms,' he said. Tabuada said that the ASF virus is very resilient and can stay up to 1,000 days in frozen meat, and the only way to protect swine is through biosecurity. Source: Philippines News Agency